The Patient Better Project closes the gap between the sophistication of care being delivered and the patient’s ability to successfully participate in that care. We do this by giving healthcare professionals, organizations, researchers, and policymakers insight into a patient’s ability and capability to participate, pinpointing where support is needed, and identifying what can be done to better prepare patients for the care being delivered.
What We've Accomplished
We Brought Structure to Patient Participation
Research has long examined concepts such as engagement, activation, and health literacy, but lacked a clear structure for the activities patients actually perform to participate in their care. The Patient Better Project identified and organized those activities, creating a foundation for patient participation to be defined, studied, and measured.
We Defined What Patient Participation Requires
The Patient Better Project brought structure to the patient’s role in healthcare by identifying the activities people are expected to perform before, during, and between encounters. From preparing and organizing health information to communicating, understanding instructions, and following through, we created a framework that makes patient participation visible, definable, and measurable.
We Built a Framework Ready for Research and Validation
The Patient Better Project has established a framework for defining and measuring patient participation as a distinct component of healthcare. The next step is to put that framework to work across populations, care settings, and healthcare organizations through independent research, validation, and real-world application.
Where We Go From Here
Policymakers, Experts, & Professionals to Champion Patient Participation
Patient participation needs advocates who can help move it from an expectation that patients are left to fulfill on their own to a recognized, supported, and measurable component of healthcare.
Our Ask: Help Build the Evidence for Patient Participation
The foundation is built. Now we need researchers, healthcare organizations, policymakers, and funders to study, test, and validate patient participation across populations and care settings.
Together, we can establish the evidence needed to bring patient participation into healthcare.