The National Health Policy Forum, a nonpartisan research and public policy organization at The George Washington University, recently convened two panel discussions on Patient-Centered Care. The National Health Policy Forum's mission is to cultivate a learning community among key senior staff in Congress, its support agencies, and the Executive Branch to improve the policymaking process on critical health issues.

The first meeting, Patient-Centered Care: What Consumers and Families Want, held on October 1, 2010, explored the concept of patient-centered care and assessed progress made. Beverley H. Johnson, President and Chief Executive Officer, Institute for Patient- and Family-Centered Care, defined patient- and family-centered care, shared patient and family stories that illustrate the concepts, and urged policymakers to support bringing patients, families, clinicians, and health care leaders together to: (1) redesign primary care; (2) enhance patient and family engagement in care and decision-making and in the management of chronic illnesses; (3) change the concept of families as visitors in hospitals to one where they are seen as allies for quality and safety; and (4) develop a health care workforce with strong communication and collaboration skills. Dorothy Jeffress, Executive Director, Center for Advancing Health, and a contributing writer for the Prepared Patient Forum, talked about resources for, and barriers to, patients being well-informed and integrally involved in their own care. Christine Bechtel, Vice President, National Partnership for Women & Families, concluded with an overview of the issues for policymakers to think about, and next steps for engaging consumers.

The NHPF held a second meeting, Calls for Patient-Centered Care: Physician and Hospital Response, on October 22, 2010. Dale Shaller, Principal, Shaller Consulting Group, gave an overview and assessment of the concept of patient-centered care, how it can be measured—including a discussion of HCAHPS—and its progress. Susan Edgman-Levitan, Executive Director, John B. Stoeckle Center for Primary Care Innovation, addressed improving practice outcomes by improving the patient experience of care. She included information about CAHPS, reviewed patient-centered care initiatives in ambulatory medicine, and the medical home model. Anthony DiGioia, MD, Orthopaedic Surgeon at Magee-Womens Hospital, described the patient- and family-centered care methodology he developed to transform the care experience in the hospitals of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. Tony described improvements in the patient experience of care, patient outcomes, quality, safety, and efficiency, while reducing costs.

The Institute sends special thanks to University Health Systems of Eastern Carolina, North Carolina Center, and UNC Health Care for providing leadership for the upcoming November Hospitals and Communities Moving Forward with Patient- and Family-Centered Care intensive training seminar. These three organizations work collaboratively to improve health care across North Carolina, and their partnership to develop strategic patient- and family-centered initiatives for their state is a role model for the rest of this country, and others. The Institute is grateful for their leadership support.

University Health Systems of Eastern Carolina is a not-for-profit regional health system serving 29 counties with over 9,000 employees. Its flagship hospital, Pitt County Memorial Hospital (PCMH) is an 861-bed academic medical center and the teaching hospital for Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University.  Learn more about PCMH...

North Carolina Center for Hospital Quality and Patient Safety is an initiative of the North Carolina Hospital Association, with a vision to lead North Carolina hospitals and health care systems to become the safest and highest quality hospitals and health care systems in the United States.  Learn more about the NC Quality Center….

UNC Health Care is a public, not-for-profit academic medical center, which includes UNC Hospitals. It is based in Chapel Hill, NC, with a mission to provide high quality patient care, to educate health care professionals, to advance research, and to provide community service. UNC Health Care’s “Commitment to Caring” offers relationship-based care to patients and their family members.  Learn more about UNC Health Care's Quality and Safety Initiatives…

Medication errors are one of the most widespread and preventable causes of harm in modern health care. A new white paper, Making Inpatient Medication Reconciliation Patient Centered, Clinically Relevant, and Implementable: A Consensus Statement on Key Principles and Necessary First Steps, Journal of Hospital Medicine, Vol. 5, No. 8, October 2010, gives hospitals practical recommendations for implementing system-wide medication reconciliation programs. This article is also being published by The Joint Commission Journal on Quality and Patient Safety, November 2010 (in press).

This document “gives clinicians, quality and safety personnel, and regulatory agencies practical steps for reducing medication-related preventable harm,” said Mitchell Dvorak, Executive Director, Consumers Advancing Patient Safety (CAPS). The article identifies ten key areas for improvement in medication reconciliation and provides actionable “first steps” for addressing each. The paper concludes with “Patient safety and patient/family-centered care must be the principal drivers in the development of medication reconciliation implementation systems,” a sentiment echoed by Dvorak, and emphasizes that medication reconciliation must be seen as a patient safety issue, not simply about accreditation. “Ultimately, this is about using a team-based approach to provide the best possible care to every hospitalized patient.”    

For an example of a medication reconciliation form developed in partnership with patient and family advisors, read Memorial Healthcare System: A Public System Focusing on Patient- and Family-Centered Care, published by the Commonwealth Fund.

ALWAYS EVENTS™

Announcing the Picker Institute’s Request for Proposals (RFP) for its new Always Events™ (AE) Challenge Grant Program. This program will provide up to $50,000 in matching grants to support the development and execution of innovative projects designed to demonstrate how to implement the Always Events™ concept in practice. A Letter of Intent (LOI) in response to the RFP is due by November 8, 2010. Read more….

The Institute welcomes Chase Jordan, who joined the Institute team in September, as our student intern. You may hear Chase’s voice when you call us, as he often answers the telephone. In addition, he assists with special projects, fills publication orders, updates databases, and does a variety of other substantive and administrative tasks.
   
Chase lives in Bethesda, MD, with his mom, and is a senior in high school. He spends summers with his aunt, uncle, and cousins in Hagerstown, MD. Not only does Chase enjoy the time with his large extended family, he also works over the summer for his uncle’s business, Cooling Services, Inc.

In his spare time, when not putting the finishing touches on his college applications, Chase is an avid outdoorsman. He likes to hike, rock climb, hunt, canoe, scuba dive, and more. Chase has an interest in lobbying, marketing, and public relations—in addition to physics and chemistry. Chase, with his uncle, had the thrill of taking apart and successfully reassembling a 1973 Ford Mustang that Chase also enjoys driving.

The Institute staff is happy to have Chase join us for this school year. His outgoing personality and hardworking nature are a welcome addition.

Sold Out!

The Institute’s North Carolina seminar, Hospitals and Communities Moving Forward with Patient- and Family-Centered Care, November 1-4, 2010, is sold out with registration of 425. This seminar will have the strongest representation of leadership ever, with nearly 70 patient and family leaders and 100 senior administrative leaders, including board members, CEOs, COOs, CFOs, CNOs, and other medical and nursing leaders. The participation of multidisciplinary teams from organizations, including senior leadership, is vital to advancing the practice of patient- and family- centered care. This seminar promises to be quite an exciting educational event.

For more details, check out the North Carolina seminar agenda.

Dates and the location for the spring seminar will be coming soon to the Institute's website.