Tag: Patient Activation

The Biggest Health Disparity of All: Control (Part 2)

Wendy Lynch

Posted 11/10/11 on the Altarum Institute Health Policy Forum

Patient Activation is a popular topic in recent health policy discussions. Activation means that a patient is informed, participating in his or her care, and feels comfortable and involved in decisions (1). It sounds powerful. Lower activation is associated with a higher rate of medical errors (2, 3), lower adherence to recommended medication (4), and lower satisfaction with care (2). Conversely, active participation in decision making results in less expensive treatment choices (5), faster recovery (6), and better perceived outcomes (5).

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Physician Executives Should Support Patient Engagement/Activation

Kent Bottles

Posted 10/18/11 on Kent Bottles MD Private Views

The doctor/patient relationship is certainly changing and evolving. A term I hear a lot today is:“patient engagement/activation.” Why is this concept so important and what does it mean? What can physician executives do to make it easier for our patients to become engaged and activated?

Judith Hibbard has pioneered the study of patient engagement, and she noted that one needs knowledge, skills, and emotional support to actively engage in one’s health care. She identified four behaviors associated with engagement and activation:

  1. Self management
  2. Collaboration with provider
  3. Maintaining function/preventing declines
  4. Access to appropriate and high quality care

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Measuring Patients’ Experience of Care

DAVID HARLOW

First published 2/9/11 on Health Blawg,

There is a growing recognition within the medical-industrial complex that the patient is a key element of the enterprise, and that patient satisfaction, patient experience, patient engagement, patient activation, patient-centeredness are very important.  Some research shows that patient activation yields better patient outcomes, and that patient activation can be measured.

Patient-centeredness and patient engagement are two of the key metrics to be used by the feds in describing Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs), if the internecine battles within government are resolved soon enough to actually release draft ACO regulations in time to allow for sufficient advance planning for the January 2012 go-live date.  (Wearing one of my many hats, I’ve had the opportunity to submit a response to CMS regarding the RFI on these metrics on behalf of the Society for Participatory Medicine.)  These measures go into the Meaningful Use hopper as well, as Meaningful Use Stage 2 metrics are being reviewed.

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