About The Partnership
The Importance of Patient Engagement and Patients’ Voices
Patients and their families are essential partners in the effort to improve the quality and safety of health care. Their participation as active members of their own health care team is an essential component of making care safer and reducing readmission.
Robust efforts to engage patients and families in their care are woven throughout all aspects of the Partnership for Patients to achieve system-wide adoption of patient and family engagement best practices.
A 2008 study demonstrated measurable benefits to providing patient-centered care with a positive impact on patient satisfaction, length of stay, and cost per case. By improving communication with patients, via providers at the bedside or institutionally through committees focused on systemic changes in patient care, patient outcomes can and will improve.
Spreading Best Patient Engagement Practices to Hospitals
There is a tremendous amount of great work under way at hospitals across the country to advance patient and family engagement. The task is not to reinvent the wheel, but to instead leverage existing networks, tools, and resources to drive faster and farther toward common patient safety goals. The Partnership is continually identifying, disseminating, and spreading patient and family engagement best practices to the over 3,700 hospitals that are members of the Hospital Engagement Network.
Engaging Patients and Families to Improve Care Transitions
Patients and families are collaborating with physicians and caregivers in patient-centered care communities cross the country to improve care transitions and reduce readmissions. In addition to hospitals, the Partnership works with participants in the Community-Based Care Transitions Program, Quality Improvement Organizations (QIOs), and other organizations that work with hospitals.
The Partnership encourages and supports patients and families to be active participants in their care and decision-making at whatever level they feel comfortable. Patients and families are sharing their patient stories and participating on boards, workgroups, and advisory councils in hospitals and community-based organizations across the country.
