New Era of Patient Engagement

The Affordable Care Act calls for increased public reporting on the cost and quality of health care services to encourage consumers to become more informed and engaged in their own health care decisions.

On Wednesday, February 6, 2013, Kristin Carman and Jill Mathews Yegian, co-directors of AIR’s Health Policy and Research Group, participated in a briefing hosted by Health Affairs, a leading journal of health policy thought and research. The briefing, titled “New Era of Patient Engagement,” examined the evidence of patient engagement in health care as well as the challenges and opportunities associated with it. The all-day event explored topics raised in the Health Affairs February 2013 issue. 

Video: Kristin Carman on “An Overview of the Evidence and Potential for Patient Engagement”

Video: Jill Yegian on “Patient Engagement, Costs and Insurance”

AIR researchers Yegian, Carman, and Pam Dardess, and Maribeth Shannon of the California HealthCare Foundation wrote “Engaged Patients Will Need Comparative Physician-Level Quality Data and Information About Their Out-of-Pocket Costs,” which offers the results of a review of health-related data now available and compares that with the information patients seek.

AIR's Carman, Dardess, and Maureen Maurer, as well as Shoshanna Sofaer of Baruch College of the City University of New York, Karen Adams of the National Quality Forum, and Christine Bechtel and Jennifer Sweeney of the National Partnership for Women and Families wrote “Patient and Family Engagement: A Framework for Understanding the Elements and Developing Interventions and Policies,” which provides a policy framework for increasing the engagement of patients and their families in health care.