Shared Decision Making – Not Ready For Prime Time – Nor Evidently Is Patient-Centered Care

When it comes to delivering truly patient-centered care…how are providers supposed to know when they have “arrived”?   According to Michael Berry, MD, President of the Informed Medical Decisions Foundation, providers will know they have achieved the “pinnacle of patient-centered care” when they routinely engage their patients in shared decision-making (SDM).

In theory, shared decision-making (aka collaborative decision-making) is what is supposed to happen between patients and their doctors when faced with a difficult choice.  Clinicians engaging in shared decision-making would provide patients with information pertaining to the need for the treatment, the available options, as well as the benefits and risks.  But patient-centered clinicians would also do something else. They would attempt to work with patients to arrive at a decision they could both live with.  A kind of “shared mind” that takes into consideration their clinical perspective as well as the patient’s perspective – their preferences, needs, and values (which ideally have been captured over the course of the patient-provider relationship).

The Problem Is That Most Physicians Don’t Really Engage Patients In Either Shared Decision Making  

 A 2003 study surveyed U.S. physicians (N=1,217) preferences and actual practices regarding shared decision-making.  Table 1 presents a summary of findings from this study.

Table 1

Decision Making Style	What Physicians Preferred	What Physicians Actually Do
Shared decision-making	58%	37%
Physician-dominant decision-making	28%	43%
No patient involvement	9%	13%
Patient dominant decision-making	5%	7%

While most physicians in the study may philosophically believe in and prefer shared decision-making…as this data indicates that is not what most physicians in the study reported actually doing.  In fact, 56% of physicians reported that they actually engaged in decision-making that was physician-dominated (with some patient involvement) or totally physician-dominated decision-making behavior (absent any patient involvement).

The Barriers To Shared Decision Making?

The barriers to SDM include the usual suspects:

•  Lack of time during the visit
• Not having access to the right decision support aids tools and training their use
• Physician attitudes about patient’s willingness to engage in shared decision-making
• Provider reliance upon a physician-directed (versus patient-centered) style of communicating with patients

The Take Away – Why Shared Decision Making Matters

•  SDM is the right thing to do – the benefits associated with SDM include better outcomes, lower utilization and cost, lower malpractice risk and enhanced patient trust and satisfaction

•  SDM is a great way to be engaging to patients – it is a way to get patients involved in their care in a meaningful way they can relate to.

• To be eligible to participate in Medicare’s Shared Savings Program, Accountable Care Organizations must implement processes to promote patient engagement, including shared decision-making.

As readers of Mind the Gap know, I am a proponent of the adoption of patient-centered communication by providers, beginning with primary care.   Shared decision-making has rightly been identified as a leading indicator when it comes to assessing the “patient-centeredness’ of a physician practice.   So before you go around telling everyone how patient-centered your provider teams are first do a reality check.  Because if you aren’t regularly engaging your patients in shared decision making you are not there yet.

That’s my opinion…what’s your?

Sources:

Heisler, M. et al. Physicians’ participatory decision-making and quality of diabetes care processes and outcomes: results from the triad study. Chronic Illness. 2009 Sep;5(3):165-76

Street, R. et al  The importance of communication in collaborative decision making: facilitating shared mind and the management of uncertainty. Journal of Evaluation in Clinical Practice 17 (2011) 579–584.

Frosch, D., et al. An Effort To Spread Decision Aids In Five California Primary Care Practices Yielded Low Distribution, Highlighting Hurdles. Health Affairs. 32, no.2 (2013):311-320.

Would Increased Reimbursement And Longer Visits Improve Physician-Patient Communications?

In a word…no.

It has been said that a physician’s patient communication skills are just as important as their clinical knowledge.   After all, it is only by “talking to and listening patients” that physicians are able to accurately diagnose and treat their conditions.   I have yet to meet a physician who did not agree with the importance of effective physician-patient communication…in principle.

In practice, a surprising number of physicians tell me that they “lack the time” and “don’t get paid” to communicate with patients.  Physicians euphemistically explain to me how current reimbursement schemes fail to incentivise physicians  to spend time talking to patients.

At face value, these objections appear to make sense.  After all we know that physicians, particularly primary care physicians, are already overextended.  We also know that the traditional fee for service model, which pays physicians on a kind of piece work basis, is not well-suited to managing “episodes of care” for a burgeoning chronic disease population.   In other words, today’s reimbursement is not properly aligned with the realities of care delivery.

The conclusion one draws from these two objections is that doctors would communicate better with patients if they simply had more time and were paid more.   But is that what would happen?

I don’t think so…and here’s why.

Many physicians, until recently, were never taught (in medical school) how to be good patient or person-centered communicators (the gold standard for physician-patient communications).   Studies show that the majority of primary care physicians today employ a physician-directed, paternalistic style when talking with patients.   This is the same style of communication practiced by physicians for the last 80 years.  This style is characterized by the physician control of the medical interview by asking the questions, focusing patient input, and providing pertinent information.  Some physicians now limit patients to asking one question per visit.  Over the course of their career, the typical physician will employ these same “conversational habits” in 120,000 to 160,000 medical interviews.

Patients, for their part are trained as well – socialized from childhood to assume the “sick role” wherein the doctor does all the talking and their job is to passively respond to questions when asked.  The average 60 year old for example will have experienced 180+ visits in which they were likely expected to assume the sick role.   Even the most engaged and empowered patient finds it difficult to avoid reverting back to this passive role.

What’s My Point?

The “communication habits” developed by and employed by physicians and patients took years to develop.   Simply increasing the length of the office visit (more time) and increasing reimbursement alone will not compensate for nor change the way physicians and patients communicate with one another.   Physicians will continue to be physician-directed and patients will continue to play the passive sick role.  Absent interventions aimed at breaking this cycle of unproductive communication by promoting more patient-centered communications, longer visits and more reimbursement will mean that physicians have more time for and get paid more for perpetuating the same physician-directed communications challenges we face now.

Patient-Centered Communication Can Lead To More Productive Visits

Physicians are concerned that patient-centered communications will increase the length of office visits.  Initially it probably will.  But imaging how much more productive office visits could be over time if patients came in focused and prepared, i.e., with a prioritized agenda, clearly articulated expectations, realistic requests for referrals, tests and medications, understanding of time limitations, and so on.  The average patient makes 3 visits to the doctor a year.  Patients with chronic conditions see the doctor up to 7 times a year.   Research shows that the adoption of specific patient-centered communication techniques in your practice could “reset” the physician-patient dynamic in ways that could increase visit productivity as well as patient outcomes and satisfaction within the course of a few consecutive visits.

That what I think…what’s your opinion?

Source:

Frankel, R. et al. Getting the Most out of the Clinical Encounter: The Four Habits Model . The Permenante Journal. 1999.

The Traditional Patient “Sick Role” Is A Major Barrier To High Quality Health Care

Each of us wears many different “hats” throughout the course of the day.  We are an employee, a wife, a father, a club member, a consumer and so on.   It comes as no surprise that our thinking, what we say, and how we say it at any particular time coincides with the hat we are wearing at that moment.   The thing about these “hats” or roles is that they come with their own set of social conventions, particularly when it comes to how we communicate.   When I was a kid for example “children were to be seen and not heard” when out in public.

So it is when we put on our patient hat – something we all do from time to time, particularly as we get older.

Unfortunately few of the roles we play come with a book of instructions.  Rather we learn them from experience or by watching others.

Think back to your first visits to the doctor – when your Mom took you to the pediatrician.  If your experiences were like mine you learned very early on that the doctor did all the talking (aka physician-directed style of communication). That’s because the doctor’s role was that of “respected expert” and my Mom’s role (and by default mine) was to play the sick role.   Much was required or expected of the person playing “sick role”…you just were there to listen and then do as told.  My Mom never was one to be passive or  quiet in most social situations but when it came to being a patient (surrogate) or a real patient in later years…she would have won an Academy Award for playing the sick role to perfection.

Believe it or not, when I have to put my patient hat on…I am no different.  In another post, I described waiting 2 hours to see a new Retinal Surgeon who was said to be very good.   The longer I waited the fewer the questions I decided to ask him…he appear too busy to spend time with little ole me answering my questions.   I couldn’t believe how easily I slipped into the sick role!  I suspect that, contrary to all the talk in the literature about how empowered everyone is…we patients basically all behave the same way when the exam room door closes.

This point was driven home for me in a recent Health Affairs article that talked about “Patient’s Fear of Being Labeled Difficult.”  The basis for the article was a series of patient focus groups conducted in the San Francisco Bay Area – the heart of Silicon Valley and all things involving digital health.   One finding stuck me – that most participants in the study talked about how they actively tried to avoid challenging their physicians during office visits.   

Deference to authority instead of genuine partnership appeared to be the participants’ mode of working.

Mind you the participants in the research were “wealthy, highly educated people from an affluent suburb in California, generally thought to be in a position of considerable social privilege and therefore more likely than others to be able to assert themselves.”  These patients were recruited from Palo Alto Medical Foundation physician practices … one of the most wired health populations in the US!

But.. But.. Everyone Is Supposed To Be Empowered and Activated?  

Baloney.  The patients in the study were socialized into the same sick role as the rest of us.  Deference and passivity, at least while in the exam room with the physician, are dead giveaway signs of sick role behavior.   Too be sure these people did go online after they left the doctor’s office to do what they should have done with their doctor – ask important questions.   Did you know that during the average primary care office visit patients ask very few “important” questions?

The Finding Should Be Concerning To All Of Us

Talking (and listening) is how physicians diagnose and treat patients.  If patients are deferential (due to fear , concern about taking up too much time, etc.) to  their physician to the point that they don’t share valuable information, don’t ask challenging questions and don’t engage in collaborative decision-making  then something is very wrong.   The net result is sub-optimal outcomes, medical errors, preventable ER visits and hospital readmits and poor patient experiences.

The Take Away

The first step is for providers to recognize the scope of the problem and the need to fix it.  The second step is for providers to examine their own attitudes and skills with respect to helping patients break out of the sick role into a more collaborative role.  Third, providers and their hospital partners need to acquire the tools, training, and resources needed to help patients as well as themselves design and adapt to their new hats, roles, and social conventions.

That’s What I Think…What’s Your Opinion?

Source:

Frosch, D. et al.   Authoritarian Physicians And Patients’ Fear Of Being Labeled ‘Difficult’ Among Key Obstacles To Shared Decision Making. Health Affairs.  No. 5 (2012): 1030–1038

Patient Engagement – Here’s Why It’s So Hard For Health Care Providers

E-mail me at stwilkins at gmail.com for a complimentary copy of my Patient Engagement White Paper

Three Reasons Why Doctors Need To Spend More Time Talking and Listening To Their Patients

Since most physicians probably will not be able to get beyond the first couple of lines of this post without yelling at the monitor…I will get to the 3 reasons…and if you stick with me …I’ll present my case for why they are so important.

1. Your visits will be more productive…and shorter
2. You will be a better diagnostician and a much better doctor
3. Your patients will sing your praises to all their friends and family

Reason #1- Your visits will be more productive…and shorter.

Physician experts argue that the best way to improve productivity and time management during the office visit is by improving the way physicians talk with their patients.  Most of you are probably screaming this is not possible because patients:

• Show up with 3-4 complaints/visit
• Just want a “quick fix “or prescription
• Are unfocused and make rambling opening statements
• Appear totally disinterested and unengaged
•  Won’t do what I tell them

Let’s stipulate that all these arguments are true.

Now suspend your judgment for a moment and consider this.

Where is it that patients are taught how they are supposed to behave when in the presence of their doctor?   Have you ever talked to them about such things?  Do you imagine their previous doctors advised them about such things?  Is there a school people are supposed to go to learn how to talk productively with your doctor?

The fact is that patients aren’t taught these things….ever.  They learn these behaviors through the school of hard knocks.  We have all been socialized from childhood to assume the “passive, subservient “sick role” in the presence of our doctors.  That’s not anyone’s fault…it is just the reality of the way health care have evolved.

Now imagine there was a school for patients where they learned things like how the medical interview is structured, what patients can do to prepare for their visit, why time is limited, how to make the best use of the time available, and so on. Then imagine you reinforcing these “learning” at each of your patient visits through repetition, encouragement, and changes in your communication behavior.  In relatively short order patients would begin to “reciprocate“your behavior with the behavior you desire…and viola you have set the stage for shorter, more productive (and organized visits).

Reason #2- You will be a better diagnostician and a much better doctor

Sir William Osler, a founding father of modern medicine, once said “Listen to the patient – they will tell you what’s wrong.”  Numerous other luminaries have said that a doctor’s patient communication skills (talking and listening) are as important as their clinical skills and knowledge.  Talking and listening is how physicians arrive at the correct diagnosis and treatment.  Strong patient communication skills are needed to engage and activate patients.   Talking and listening is therapeutic and to patients.

Some patients will get better with a commonsense explanation of their difficulties; others for some unknown reason remain unchanged. Some patients will respond to friendliness on the part of their physician; others require a more formal attitude. Some can establish rapport with their physician even though they appreciate his intellectual shortcomings.       M. Balint 1957

As physicians come to rely upon EMRs, there is a risk that the computer will come between the patient and physician.  This will result in even less “talking and listening” between patients and physicians, more   disengaged patients, and even poorer outcomes.

Reason #3 – Your patients will sing your praises to all their friends and family  

Let’s face it…with few exceptions…most physicians’ patient communication skills need improvement.   Poor physician communications skills top the list of complaints patients have about their doctor, i.e., physicians that don’t listen, physicians that ignore what they have to say, physicians that don’t provide enough information, and so on.    Many of us have never been exposed to a physician with superlative patient communication skills.   We don’t know what we are missing.

Given how “average” most physician communication skills are…. imagine how easy it would be for a physician with good communication skills (patient-centered) to compete with other physicians in your group or local market.  Soon such physicians will also be rewarded for their ability to create exceptional patient experiences simply by virtue of their ability to talk and listen to patients.

Is what I talk about here counter intuitive…yes.  Does it requires some out of the box thinking…definitely.   Do I have a solution for helping patients and physicians accomplish what I talk about here.   Absolutely.   Contact me to learn more.

That’s my opinion…what’s yours?

 Sources:

Electronic Medical Records and Communication with Patients and Other Clinicians: Are We Talking Less?  Center for Study of Health System Change. Issue Brief. April 2010.

Balint, M. The doctor, his patient and the illness, Inter-national Universities Press, New York, 1957.

Rosenow, E., Patients’ Understanding of and Compliance With Medications:  The Sixth Vital Sign. Mayo Clinic Proceedings. August 2005.

Cene, C., et al. The Effect of Patient Race and Blood Pressure Control on Patient-Physician Communication. Journal of General Internal Medicine. July 3, 2009. 24(9):1057–64.