How to pay lip service to patient-centric care

Patient-centric care is getting a lot of buzz. Much like "disruption", "AI" and "blockchain", you might as well stay home if you can't drop these words at least once during your next sick care or digital health Meetup. But, like all those other words, there seems to be a lot of confusion about what it really means and whether and how those who are flapping their lips are actually doing it and realizing scaleable , measurable impact on cost. experience and quality as a result. Here are some ways to tell:

1. People confuse patient centered care with patient centric care.
2. People confuse experience with engagement and lump them together as patient-centric
3. They think a patient portal is patient centric. Then they screw it up.
4. They tell us how important patient centricity is and then they ignore patient reported outcome measurements
5. They worry more about what happens in the examining room than what happens in the "waiting room" or the back office billing and collections department
6. They tell you your prescription is ready at the pharmacy in the lobby when you specifically requested that it be mailed. They refuse to provide care when and where the patient wants it, like on nights and weekends.
7. They rely on the assumption that all patients are willing and able to take personal responsibility for their care, instead of focusing on the 5% who spend 50% of the money.
8. They ignore "community-centric" factors, or social determinants, that are beyond the control of the patient.
9. They are so consumed with the patient centric experience and engagement, they forget about its impact on the doctor experience and engagement
10. They use shared decision making, calling it patient-centric, to justify using or not using treatments that have not undergone cost-effectiveness scrutiny.

Patient centricity seems to be another technology at the top of the hype cycle. Doctor centricity is under attack. My guess is we'll wind up somewhere in between. In the meantime, be skeptical of those with flapping lips.

Arlen Meyers, MD, MBA is the President and CEO of the Society of Physician Entrepreneurs