Patients taking ownership of their care is a necessary part of today’s health care environment. Patients who are engaged and activated in their care tend to have better outcomes, lower costs, and higher satisfaction.

While traditionally seen as a primary care tool, patient ownership must run throughout a patient’s health care journey, including emergency department visits, hospital admissions, and more.

Clinicians and health care organizations across the continuum of care must find ways to effectively partner with patients to foster this sense of ownership.

What Is Care Ownership?

Care ownership is the concept of patients being involved, responsible, and accountable partners in their health and well-being. They are informed, proactive, and responsive in their care and have the skills, confidence, and support to manage their health conditions and cope with challenges.

What Care Ownership Is Not

Care ownership is not about shifting the burden of care from providers to patients. Instead, it is about creating a collaborative relationship where both parties share information, goals, and decisions.

Care ownership is also not a one-size-fits-all approach. It recognizes that different patients have different needs, preferences, and abilities that may change over time.

Why Is Care Ownership Important?

Care ownership offers many benefits for patients and clinicians. For patients, care ownership can:

• Improve health outcomes by enhancing adherence to treatment plans, preventing complications, and reducing hospitalizations and readmissions.
• Increase satisfaction and trust by respecting patient autonomy, values, and preferences.
• Enhance quality of life by improving self-efficacy, coping skills, and emotional well-being.
• Reduce costs by avoiding unnecessary tests, treatments, and visits.

For clinicians and organizations, care ownership can:

• Improve clinical outcomes by aligning care with patient goals and expectations.
• Increase efficiency and productivity by reducing duplication, waste, and errors.
• Enhance reputation and loyalty by meeting patient needs and exceeding patient expectations.
• Reduce liability and risk by ensuring informed consent and shared decision-making.

How Do Clinicians Partner with Patients on Care Ownership Before, During, and After Acute Clinical Encounters?

How do you foster a culture of partnership with your patients, empowering them to participate in their health care decisions and self-management? Patient engagement with care depends a lot on how clinicians and health systems interact .

Patient-centered care, a supportive organizational culture, and a program that enables and facilitates patient engagement and activation at every step of the health care journey have a significant impact on patient participation.

Helping Patients Be Proactive

Physical, mental, and emotional health is incredibly important to quality of life, but many people don’t address their health until there is an issue big enough to seriously impact their quality of life.

Clinicians and health systems can encourage patients to be proactive by reaching out on a regular basis to remind them about preventative screenings, offer to help schedule annual wellness visits, and ask if they need help finding a provider .

Another way to encourage proactive care ownership is to offer and promote use of a nurse triage line. This service allows people to call, ask questions, and potentially be advised as to the site of care that best meets their needs.

Proactive outreach, particularly when tailored to patients’ preferred communication method, helps to engage patients with preventative care, an action which leads to better overall health outcomes.

Connecting with Patients During Acute Clinical Encounters

When a patient is admitted to the hospital, there are a lot of factors, both clinical and non, that impact the patient’s length of stay, experience, and health outcome. Thoughtful communication is the main key to managing these factors.

Clinicians must take the time to communicate with patients and their families, showing empathy, being transparent, and actively listening. By providing information about their health, treatment options, and expected outcomes, and offering them an opportunity to ask questions and express concerns, clinicians can foster a strong relationship with patients.

Often times, patients and their families may have questions or worries when someone is not around to ask. Programs that engage with patients via text from the beginning of their hospital stay through discharge offer opportunities for patients to ask questions, give feedback, and bring up any concerns which can be relayed to their care team to address any issues and provide a better patient experience.

Supporting Patients in their Next Steps

When patients are discharged from either the hospital or emergency department, they are not yet well but have to understand and follow their discharge guidelines, fill new prescriptions, take medications differently, and often obtain follow-up appointments.

It’s a lot for a patient and their loved ones to handle, and supportive outreach can help patients feel less overwhelmed and more involved with their care.

Care coordination post-discharge, particularly for patients with more complex conditions, can assist with care navigation and bridge gaps in access to follow-up care. When patients have a concern and are unsure what to do, but receive a follow-up call or text checking in on them, they have an opportunity to get questions answered before issues worsen.

Why Care Ownership?

Patient ownership of care improves health outcomes, fosters strong patient-clinician relationships, and respects patients as individuals with unique needs, preferences, and abilities.

When patients are partners in their care, everyone has a better experience. Clinicians and health systems can champion patient care ownership by offering programs that equip patients with more opportunities to take charge of their health.