AHRQ report highlights patient-centered efforts

A new report from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality highlights findings and lessons from the experiences of grantees funded by the Enabling Patient-Centered Care through Health IT (PCC) Initiative. Grantees were selected to study different approaches for using health IT to create or enhance the delivery of patient-centered care in ambulatory care settings.

All of the studies examined ways to improve patient self-management, defined as patients’ skills and confidence to manage their own health. In addition, 10 projects explored ways to provide patients, their caregivers or providers’ access to medical information. Seven of the studies evaluated the impact of the use of health IT to support more effective patient-clinician communication.

The results of the studies indicate that health IT can be effectively used to deliver patient-centered care and improve relevant outcomes. However, the effectiveness of health IT interventions is impacted by how well the interventions are designed and implemented, and the extent to which the intervention addresses the unique needs of diverse patient populations. Additional research is needed to understand how health IT can support shared decisionmaking as well as the sharing of health information across transitions in care. 

Read the report in its entirety.