The Commonwealth Fund released a brief examining patient-centered medical care in the U.S.  The brief outlines what patient-centered care consists of and how best to foster and improve it.  The authors suggest that while improvements to health infrastructure and technology are important in patient-centered care, they are not sufficient to ensure success.  Instead, they posit that it requires greater coordination and integration of care.

From the report: Efforts to improve patient-centered care have focused on infrastructure and information technology support. However, a true patient-centered approach depends on healing relationships among physicians, patients, and family, with a strong foundation of communication and shared decision-making. Health policy should focus on multiple means for improving healing relationships, including training health care professionals and activating and enabling patients to participate in their care.

Full report: Why the Nation Needs a Policy Push on Patient-Centered Health Care (PDF | 156KB)

Commonwealth Fund.  (2010).  Why the nation needs a policy push on patient-centered health care.  Epstein, R., Fiscella, K., Lesser, C. and Strange, K.