A recent report from CAPP showed that patients and providers agree that patient-provider relationship is crucial to quality care.
Patients and providers are on the same page about what constitutes a quality healthcare experience, both stating that a strong patient-provider relationship is key, according to findings from the latest Council of Accountable Physician Practices (CAPP) consumer healthcare report.
The 2017 Consumer Health Care Priorities Study: What Patients and Doctors Want from the Health Care System report also showed that patients and providers agree that care coordination and evidence-based care guidelines are essential to a quality care experience.
The report includes responses from 11 patient and physician focus groups based in Colorado, Wisconsin, and New Jersey. These focus groups asked patients and providers what they wanted from the healthcare system, regardless of cost of services.
The focus groups revealed that the patient-provider relationship is the “single most important hallmark of quality care,” the report stated. Finding a provider who meets individual patient needs is part of building a quality provider relationship.
Patients are generally looking for a provider who is knowledgeable, listens to patient concerns, explains medical concepts clearly and in lay terms, spends as much time as necessary during care encounters, and is available remotely outside of traditional visits for the patient’s convenience.
Patients and providers also agree that treatment should be evidence-based and should involve some level of shared decision-making between patient and provider, the report showed. Patients feel they should be able to see their progress visually to remain accountable for their own health. However, when choosing between the two, patients said it was more important for a treatment to be proven effective through current research than to be aligned with patient preferences.
Care coordination also emerged as a common priority for both patients and providers, with both parties agreeing that care coordination can enhance the quality of care. Care coordination requires all providers (doctors, nurses, etc.) involved with an individual’s care have access to the individual’s records, including notes made by other care teams to provide a personalized care.
The findings indicate that health care providers must leverage technology to build patient-provider relationship and care coordination. Providers must encourage engagement in patient-centered ways while expanding access to digital health technology.
