Looks like we are not the only ones who believe the healthcare of the future should be patient-centric. Though we like to go one step further and call it "consumer-centric".

The Journal of General Internal Medicine (JGIM) just published a comprehensive overview of what constitutes patient-centered primary care and examined the real-world issues of applying these principles to the everyday practice of medicine. We felt the principles identified by JGIM noteworthy to list here:

1. Superb access to care
2. Patient engagement in care
3. Clinical information systems that support high-quality care, practice-based learning, and quality improvement
4. Care coordination
5. Integrated, comprehensive care and smooth information transfer across a fixed or virtual team of providers
6. Ongoing, routine patient feedback to a practice
7. Publicly available information on practices

As JGIM rightly points out, these principles are not new and the real challenge is applying them consistently. Small physician practices are strapped for resources, as the demands on them are rising. It is not realistic to pursue a pie-in-the-sky. Yet as we know the journey of a thousand miles starts with the first step.

This first step is commitment to change. Further steps have to be practical and incremental. Starting with things as simple as training office staff to be service-oriented. Next adding clinical technology capabilities one step at a time. Then participating in pay-for-performance programs to reap the benefits of these investments.

The summary of the article is available here.

UPDATE #1: Nick Jacobs of Windber Healthcare, discusses patient-centered care in hospital setting. He even shares our belief that to get it right one has to look back to Hippocratic roots.

UPDATE #2: Karen Davis, President of the Commonwealth Fund lays out her vision in a video editorial.