Taking the patient into consideration when planning the medical home

Dr. Pauline Chen's article this week in the New York Times shows what happens when doctors and health systems make plans, but fail to consider the patients needs or even the patients reactions. The article examine the concept of the "patient-centered medical home," a team-based, comprehensive approach to preventative care, facilitated by electronic medical records. It sounds like an efficient system. But some practices implementing the system have found that patients do not understand and even dislike the system that was put in place to center around the patient. Now practices are playing catch-up by setting up patient advisory panels and other mechanisms for patient feedback.

The findings of the early medical home models demonstrates the importance of patient buy-in to any type of medical practice reform. Without patient buy-in, medical care comes to a sudden halt.