During a lively discussion this past weekend on the importance of "patient centered care", I stopped and thought for a moment. How did we get here? To a place where we have the need to define healthcare with the adjective patient-centered. And, more importantly, how could healthcare be anything but patient centered? Clearly something had gone awry in our system if we have come to the point where one of the newest, and biggest concepts in healthcare is patient-centered care. None-the-less, here we are. So, the question for this blog is, how can we use patient-centered care to further the goals of CDI?
A few ideas come to mind.....the first has to do with the responsible patient. One of the theories I talk about in my books is that when patients are more responsible, their physicians (knowing this) are likely to be more accountable......here are a few suggestions for using this concept to further the goals of CDI.
1. Include patient-centered care concepts on CDI training.....one of my favorite examples is relating the story to physicians (from my husband's law practice) about the patient who wanted to review his medical record, understand it, and then had some concerns about the content. He asked for some modifications of documentation and a significant legal battle ensued between the patient and the physician practice. In the end, the physician agreed to modify some of the subjective documentation in the patient record (phrases like the patient was obese and unkempt)....But the patient was still dissatisfied. The question for any physician here is, "how would you have documented the original entry if you knew that the patient would be reading it?"
2. If you are not already, have your CDI team meet with the patient-centered care team (I'm assuming you have a team and/or a manager charged with rolling out patient-centered care activities). Talk about how you can integrate patient-centered care concepts into your program. It's amazing the good stuff that comes from integrating different perspectives.
3. Spend some time with patients. Patients are everywhere, not just in the beds in your hospital. Co-sponsor a patient education program with the HIM department to explain the patient record, patient rights, and even talk about how the patient can keep copies on line - either through your own organization if you have such a portal - if not, you may want to read about the Cleveland Clinic EMR. Or, direct the patients to AHIMA's www.myphr.org website.
4. Direct patients to the 7 Steps to Your Best Possible Healthcare website. It's the book I wrote and the website contains alot of useful information for patients, some of it specifically related to patient rights in their health information and helping them to understand the content of their medical records.
Remember, more responsible patients create more accountable healthcare providers.
