The Future of Quality Patient-Centered Healthcare

Wednesday, November 7th, 2012

Back in August the National Quality Forum awarded Mountain States Healthcare Alliance, based in Tennessee, the 2012 National Quality Healthcare Award for the system’s multiple quality-focused goals. The National Quality Forum wanted to recognize the level of quality patient care the healthcare system has provided, which has a commitment to patient-centered care.

Patient-centered healthcare is certainly what the future looks like, and Mountain States Healthcare Alliance has drafted their “10 principles of patient-centered care,” which were published so other healthcare systems may learn from their successes. These principles include the idea that all team members are considered caregivers, care reflects patient needs and values, information is freely shared between patients and their partners and other caregivers, a patient’s family and friends are part of the care team, patient safety and transparency is the rule, and all caregivers cooperate and focus on the best interests of the patient. Find out more about these quality patient care principles here.

With these guiding principles so clearly outlined, other healthcare systems are soon to discover the benefits to patients and the healthcare system alike. Keeping patient care at the front of everyone’s mind and encouraging all staff – from janitors to executives – to work together to help patients will make any healthcare system more efficient and more effective. Healthcare systems following these guidelines won’t just win awards – they’ll see a happier community and a better run system.

As Mountain States Healthcare Alliance principles state, they’re working hard to “bring patient-centered care from an abstract philosophy to a concrete practice.” Many people still have a choice when it comes to their healthcare needs and patients are more likely to choose a system that puts their needs first. Similarly, finding qualified doctors and physicians to care for those patients won’t be so difficult when they know these patient-centered guiding principles are in place.