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Discussion Post IV: The healthcare system is transitioning away from a paternalistic approach to health care delivery i.e., an approach where healthcare providers are at the center and patients are viewed as passive recipients of care to a more patient centered approach that encourages patient engagement in their care. What is patient engagement? What impact, if any would this have on controlling health care costs and improving quality of care? As a health care administrator, how would you encourage patient engagement in your health care organization? How would you navigate challenges associated with implement patient engagement strategies?

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Post 1: Patient engagement is the broad concept that is defined by a patient’s willingness to take the lead in their own healthcare and be actively engaged in making their own decisions on symptoms, illnesses, and treatment options. Patient engagement also involves a partnership with the medical provider where the decision making is shared by both the patient and provider(What Is Patient Engagement in Healthcare and Why Is It Important?, 2018).

Studies show that when care is delivered in a manner that has high patient engagement, the care can result in better patient outcomes and lowers costs. For example, a study published in the Health Affairs journal showed “patients who received enhanced support had 5.3 percent lower overall medical costs than patients who received the usual level of support. The enhanced-support group had 12.5 percent fewer hospital admissions than the usual-support group, and 9.9 percent fewer preference-sensitive surgeries, including 20.9 percent fewer preference-sensitive heart surgeries” (Veroff et al, 2013).

As a health care administrator, I would encourage patient engagement by tying provider salaries to their patient engagement scores and moving away from volume-based revenue models. Those providers who take the time to inform their patients about all aspects of care and partner with them in decision-making around care will be paid higher salaries. Measuing this should rely on time stamps around patient visits and I can see challenges arising from the shift in revenue models. Since patient engagement involves taking more time with patients, this can result in less patients being seen and billed for a day which can cause a loss of income.

However, research shows that highly engaged patients will invest their own time in improving their health, leading to decreases in their no-show rates, requiring fewer visits and allowing practices to take on more patients. Highly engaged patients will also stay with a practice that promotes patient engagements. In the long-term, patient engagement can lead to a more efficiently-run and profitable practice (Hibbard and Cunningham, 2008).

Post2: The patient engagement is a focus where patient and family create partnership with providers with whom they interact. Provider engages and communicates health information with patients in a more meaningful way for patient or family members to make inform decision about their health. The provider together with patient decide on treatment options, the medical evidence behind the treatment options, the benefits and risks of treatment, and patients’ preferences, and decide a treatment plan (Coulter, Vol. 35, p.80-89). Study has shown that patients who created a partnership engagement with their providers experience better health outcomes and incurred lower health cost (Carman et al, 2013).

The patient engagement strategy will influence how health care organizations, Hospitals, private providers, and payers design care plan, policies, regulations, and digital health to control health care cost and maintain quality (Yagian, el al, 2013). The engagement strategy has an impact on patient adherence to medication, Increase vaccination rate, patient satisfaction, reduce provider burn out rate, support to value based care. For instance, properly managing medication can both reduce hospital readmission rates and promote better outcomes in patients’ lives. Directly engagement from a physician via patient portal with secure messaging and portal interaction reminds patients of when and why they need to be taking the meds they’re on. Research shows that Medication reconciliation is the second piece to overall management it helps eliminate adverse reactions and provides cross-provider medication history (Mellissa, 2019).

As health care Administrator, I will setup a technical team (clinicians, IT staff, and Finance) to develop a system and policy that promote a patient-centered care even if it means virtual care delivery. The health systems will leverage technology to ensure patient access, even when hospitals close all non-essential surgeries and regular checkups. Patients can access care from anywhere and health systems can still monitor patients. Study has revealed that virtual care solutions are a win-win for health systems and patients (Julia, et al, 2017).

There are number of challenges associated with the strategy that may need to be overcome to carry out effective patient engagement and activation strategies. Some of the challenges are attributable to patients and their characteristics (language, education level, culture, age, and sex) and proclivities and others to those of providers (technology training and usage, patient portal not align with patient need). To address these challenges from a patient perspective, I will adopt model to increase patient health literacy, increase awareness, provide a user friendly patient portal and patient engagement over the entire care span. Get the provider involve with every stage of the development of the patient portal to make training much easier and develop a training manual for refresher and new hire.