Making Health Care Better: The High-Need Patient’s Perspective
<p>Health care can be expensive, inefficient, and confusing—especially so for patients managing multiple complex conditions. To inform the redesign of care around the total needs of the patient, Healthwise—a nonprofit that aims to help people make better health decisions—conducted in-depth interviews with a sample of high-need adults. </p><p>In a new <em>To the Point</em> post, Tanya Shah and Meredith Brown of The Commonwealth Fund and Becky Reed of Healthwise discuss the firsthand insights these patients provide into how the health system and life circumstances combine to shape their health care experiences. Drawing from the interviews, “personas” were created that reveal patients’ medical, behavioral, and socioeconomic needs as well as the health service- and system-level changes that could help. For example, one persona, “Struggling Sam,” has three major chronic conditions and difficulty with daily living activities like dressing. Lack of social supports and a strong provider relationship also affect how he is able to cope with his conditions.</p>
<p>“We hope the lessons from these patient personas can be applied toward improving the way care is delivered to high-need patients,” the authors say.</p>