What Does 'Patient-Centered' Care Mean?
Blue Daily
| 4 min read
Patient-centered care seems like a self-explanatory term. Isn’t health care always focused on the person receiving medical care – the patient?
The answer to that question is as complicated as the health care system itself. Of course, health practitioners diagnose and treat patients according to each patient’s health concerns. But the way that care is delivered may not reflect what’s best for each patient’s individual circumstance.
What is patient-centered care?
Patient-centered care is health care that provides care based on an individual’s preferences, needs and values. It involves the active participation of patients in the planning and delivery of their care and is designed to ensure their values are represented in clinical decisions.
The Primary Care Collaborative (PCC) is leading a new multi-year initiative on whole-person care and lifestyle medicine. PCC’s initiative aims to:
- Broaden the primary care community’s understanding of whole health and lifestyle medicine concepts and the evidence behind them
- Align PCC members around a shared vision of whole-person primary care
- Influence policy and practice through a unified coalition of primary care stakeholders working to scale whole health approaches
Examples of patient-centered care
Sometimes, care is provided in a manner or setting that is most expedient for the health care system. And that can create waste, redundancy, unnecessary expenses and poor outcomes for patients.
On the other hand, patient-centered care is a way of redesigning workflows and processes so that each patient gets the right care, at the right time, and in the most appropriate setting.
For example, doctors change their scheduling patterns so they can see a patient with progressing diabetes or asthma symptoms in the office, provide treatment and prevent a trip to the emergency room. Or, doctors connect to secure information networks so they can instantly obtain a patient’s test results, enabling them to make an accurate care decision and prevent the need for that patient to have tests repeated.
How the patient-centered medical home designation program delivers high-quality care to Michigan residents
In the Patient-Centered Medical Home designation model, a primary care physician leads a team of health care professionals who focus on each patient’s health needs, designing a care plan and team specifically for each patient. For example, a patient with diabetes might get reminders to schedule A1c tests, might talk with a nutritionist, or might work with a pharmacist within the PCMH care team to manage medications.
A PCMH care team considers all the factors that might affect someone’s health. For example, some patients may have trouble accessing transportation to get to health appointments. Others may not have a personal support system to help them with health needs. PCMH practices coordinate their patients’ care across all care settings, according to each patient’s health concerns.
PCMH practices also actively track patient’s preventive screenings and reach out to the patient when necessary tests are due. Michigan has led the nation in redesigning health care to a patient-centered focus.
BCBSM-Designated PCMH providers prevented about $814 million in medical expenses from 2009-2023. This was mostly due to prevented ER visits and hospital admissions and prevention of more costly care because they managed their patients' care, providing the right care at the right time and in the most appropriate setting.
Initiatives like PCMH make it easier for people to stay on top of chronic conditions and better manage their health, which improves their quality of life and reduces emergency room visits and expensive hospitalizations. Not only do these outcomes have a positive effect on your health, they help make health care more efficient and affordable for all.
To find a PCMH physician, go to the Find Care page on bcbsm.com. Under “Find a Doctor”, choose “Advanced Search” and select “Patient-Centered Medical Home” in the Quality filter.
Learn more about how BCBSM is working to make health care more affordable:
- Blue Cross Value Partnerships Program Prevents $6.3 billion in Health Care Expenses in Michigan Over 20 Years
- CEO: If We Want to Make Health Insurance More Affordable, We Must Change How Health Care is Paid For
- How Surging Health Care Use Affects Your Insurance
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