Engage Your Patients And Members Where They Are…Not Where You Wish They Were

Not long ago, Lloyd Dean, president and CEO of the San Francisco-based health care-system Dignity Health announced the Dignity Health and Box Patient Education App Challenge. In the course of the announcement, Dean is quoted as saying:

“We recognize the immense potential that (health information) technology has to enhance our patients’ care and overall experience.”

Dean’s use of the term “immense potential” with respect to patient-facing technologies like health apps and patient portals got me thinking. Immense potential compared to what? [pullquote]Dean’s use of the term “immense potential” got me thinking. Immense potential compared to what?[/pullquote]

With all the hype in the health press about the patient engagement potential of patient-facing health information technologies, one could be forgiven for thinking that HIT is the best if not only path to patient engagement. But in fact there is another way. Another more immediate, less costly and proven way. And its potential to engage patients, enhance care and improve patient experiences dwarfs the “immense potential” of patient-facing HIT by comparison.

PC Communications vs HIT
Rediscovering the Power of Physician-Patient Exam Room Conversations

Here’s what I mean. The average office-based physician engages in some 4,224 face-to-face visit-related conversations with patients each year. Depending upon their communication skills, each of these conversations represents an opportunity for physicians to engage patients, enhance care and improve patient experiences.

In the case of Dignity Health’s 11,000 physicians, assuming they see an average of 20 patients/day/physician, this comes out to:
220,000 patient visit per day , 880,000 patient visits per week 45.7 million patient visits per year

Now factor in the 3-4 complaints each patient brings to the visit along with a myriad of beliefs, fears and expectations for service (tests, referrals, new medications, and so on). I hope you are starting to realize that each patient visit is pregnant with opportunities for clinicians – your clinicians – to engage, empower and excite patients…. sometimes by doing nothing more than listening to what the patient wants to say. Remember these are real opportunities that exist in the here and now…not some promise or dream of possibilities to come.
3-4 Complaints + 2-3 Requests + 4-5 Expectations = Lots Of Opportunities To Engage Patients

At this point you might be thinking that your physicians are already leveraging these exam room opportunities to build your organization’s brand, to refer patients to your specialists and ancillary services, and to direct patients to health information on your their/your patient portal. You would probably be wrong. Not because of the limited time available during the office visit…but rather because many physicians have never been trained or provided with the communications tools needed to recognize or facilitate these kinds of opportunities. But that is the topic for a separate post.
The Patient-Facing HIT Opportunity

Now consider the opportunities in Lloyd Dean’s brave new world…a vision shared by HIT professionals health developers, vendors and their respective professional organizations.

Staying with the Dignity Health example, let’s assume that each of Dignity Health’s 11,000 doctors have patient panels of 2,300 adults and that 10% of these people use their respective patient portals or smart health apps 5 times per year (a generous assumption). This comes out to approximately 12.6 million opportunities for Dignity to engage, empower and excite patients/consumers per year.

It’s doubtful that the opportunities for meaningful engagement afforded by a patient portal or health app compare qualitatively to the opportunities possible with a face-to-face physician visit. Being able to check one’s lab tests, schedule an appointment, or refill a prescription while convenient are do not afford the same therapeutic benefits of a listening ear or the touch of a clinician’s hand.
The Take Away

The real “immense opportunity” for engaging patients, enhancing patient care and improving patient experiences lies behind the closed exam room doors of physicians. That is the most frequent point of contact health care consumers have with the health care system. It is also where truly meaningful patient engagement and memorable patient experience take place.

Engaging patients, enhancing care and improving patient experiences is not an either or choice between more health IT or better physician-patient communications. Providers will need both in the long run. HIT will enable clinicians with good patient communication skills to touch more patients and get more done. Physicians in turn will recommend that patients go to their patient portals and smart apps for health information.

Imagine the ROI that organizations like Dignity Health’s could realize from their investments in patient portals and health apps if all 45.7 million annual patient visits were given a tailored information therapy prescription directing them to one or the other or both.

Now that is what I call IMMENSE POTENTIAL!

That’s what I think….what’s your opinion?

Helping physicians, hospitals and health plans do a better job of engaging patients, enhancing patient care and improving patient experiences in the exam room is the goal of the Adopt One! Challenge. The Challenge is a great way for physicians to get a comprehensive baseline assessment of their patient communication skills, find out how their communication skills compare to best practices, and get access to online skills development tools.

Be sure to sign up for the Adopt One! Challenge Newsletter for more information. Health plans and hospitals are invited to sponsor the Adopt One! Challenge for physicians in their provider network, including PCMHs and ACOs.

Death By A Thousand Cuts – Physicians’ Surprising Response To My Wife’s Lung Cancer Recurrence

This is a true story….

My wife was about to celebrate her 10th anniversary as a Stage IV Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer survivor (a pretty remarkable feat) when it happened.

It started out as a cough.  We had just returned from a family trip and assumed she had picked up a “bug” from one of the boys. It also “lite up” on her semiannual PET/CT scan down at MD Anderson as small dark masses where there weren’t supposed to be any. We all hoped the cough and the PET/Ct results was the result of a cold or allergy….it had happened before. Her medical oncologist, one of the top thoracic oncologists in the world, doubted a recurrence after 10 years.  But if it was a recurrence, he told us he would put my wife back on Tarceva, the oral chemo that had worked so well for her before.

But we were all wrong. Her lung cancer was back and appeared to have spread.  The cough escalated into a 24/7 serious hack-a-thon.  She couldn’t finish a sentence without coughing.  We avoided being around other people as the coughing got worse. My wife didn’t want “bother” people.  Nor did we want our family and friends to get the wrong impression….that my wife was dying. She had beaten the odds once and she would do it again we told ourselves.  Turns out we were the only ones that believed it.

Within the space of 2 months, my wife saw a local pulmonologist (we live in Northern California not Houston, Texas where MD Anderson is) to rule out any other causes for the cough.  She also kept two long-scheduled appointments with an endocrinologist and a cardiologist for issues unrelated to the cough or cancer.

That’s When I Noticed It – Every Physician My Wife Saw Acted As If She Would Be Dead Soon

To be sure none of my wife’s physicians ever said she was dying. But knowing something about the nuances of how physicians “communicate” with patients I could tell that’s what they were thinking.  After attending every one of her doctor’s appointments over the last 10 years you recognize the tell tale signs.   Neither the endocrinologist or cardiologist were familiar with my wife or her condition as these were our first visit to both.  But they clearly could not get past her coughing.  They politely cut short the initial appointment and told my wife to contact them after the lung cancer had been dealt with.  You have bigger problems than a thyroid nodule or a rapid heartbeat they told us.

Mind you my wife was concerned enough (let’s say she was engaged) about her thyroid nodule and heart health that she 1) made the appointment to be seen and 2) actually kept the appointment because she/we believed that she would be around long enough to have to deal with these problems sometime.

The pulmonologist, after ruling out allergies or infectious disease as the cause of my wife’s cough, threw up his hands in apparent defeat and said “your cancer’s back and there’s nothing more I can do for you. “ He referred us to a local a local thoracic surgeon in order to get her cancer re-biopsied before starting chemo.

The thoracic surgeon, like the other doctors, couldn’t deal with my wife’s coughing and shortness of breath which was pretty bad by now.  Rather than come up with a definitive plan of action regarding the biopsy, the surgeon hemmed and hawed about the different approaches to doing the lung biopsy – one more invasive than the other.  The surgeon gave me the distinct impression that the biopsy in the long run wouldn’t matter given the apparent seriousness of my wife’s condition.  He promised to discuss the biopsy options with my wife’s oncologist the next day and call us with the “game plan.”  The doctor never called us back.

By this time it was 5:00 pm on a Friday afternoon.  We felt we had already wasted too much time between the pulmonologist and the thoracic surgeon and my wife started her oral chemo at 5:01 pm.  We immediately felt better because at least we were finally doing something positive to address my wife’s problem.  Anything is preferable to watching sympathetic physicians, nurses, office staff, radiology techs, etc.  shake their heads saying to themselves “poor woman” doesn’t have long to live.

Post Script

Within 10 days of starting her oral chemo, my wife’s cough and shortness of breath completely disappeared.  After 2 months of being on Tarceva the first follow up the first PET/CT scan revealed what the radiologists called a significant response to the treatment.

Not bad for someone whom so many clinicians had written off!

The Take Away

Physicians need to be aware of the fact that they both bring pre-existing attitudes and biases to the office visit…and check them at the door.  These attitudes and beliefs color the decisions clinicians make.  The extent to which clinicians inform patients of all their diagnosis and treatment options, engage patients in shared decision making, or decisions as to how aggressively treat the patient’s condition are all influenced by physician’s beliefs and attitudes.

Lung cancer that presents as a bad cough is like a red flag to a bull. It invokes a whole set of assumptions about 1) how the person got the disease (you must have been a smoker) and 2) the person’s odds of survival – slim to none.

You have to wonder how many people’s lives are cut short or whose care is not what it should be simply because their doctor jumped to the wrong conclusions.

That’s what I think. What’s your opinion?

Patient-Centered Medical Homes Need To Become More “Patient-Centered”

A recent study in Medical Care about Horizon BCBS’s Medical Home pilot reminded me of the expression a “house does not make a home.”   Or in this case how building a medical house to the spec (as laid out 3rd parties like NCQA and JACHO)  is not the same as building a medical home that is truly patient-centered .   As it turns out, researchers involved in the Horizon study claimed not to have found any significant differences between PCMH practices and non-PCMH practices.

Don’t get me wrong, my hat is off to the thousands upon thousands of primary care practices from New Jersey to Hawaii that have put in long hours going the extra mile to become recognized as Patient Centered Medical Homes.  Due to the efforts of these first generation PCMH pioneers, and their health plan partners, millions of people now have unprecedented access to primary care physicians providing:

• Physician-led team care
• Electronic records (EMR/Registry)
• Embedded care coordinators
• PHRs and web portals

Yes, many of the PCMH pilots, now into their 4^th or 5^th year, are showing promising results with reported reductions in ER visits, hospitalizations and 30-day hospital readmissions.  These pilots are also reporting improvements in HEDIS-related quality indicators.

But while team care, care coordination and EMRs may increase practice efficiency, there is nothing inherently patient-centered about these “things.”

That’s because patient-centered care is a philosophy of care delivery…not simply a punch list of HIT and staffing requirements.  Crossing the Quality Chasm defines patient-centered care as “respectful of and responsive (where practicable) to individual patient preferences, needs, and values”; or as Berwick is quoted as saying, “nothing about me (the patient) without me.” Patient-centered care occurs between people – not things – and manifests itself in the way the clinician and patient talk with and relate to one another, e.g. patient-centered communications.

With all the attention placed on building out the HIT and staffing infrastructure,  this first generation of PCMH pilots, with some notable exceptions, has lost sight of the most what makes a medical house and patient-centered medical home – notably the relationship between the patient and the clinician, beginning with the quality of clinicians’ patient-centered communication skills.

Yes, many accredited PCMH’s have patient advisory boards and conduct patient satisfaction surveys.   But as researchers like Street and Epstein have suggested,  relying just on patients’ impressions and ratings of “patient-centeredness” may provide false reassurance given that many patients have never experienced anything but suboptimal care and physicians that employ a paternalistic, decidedly un-patient-centered style of talking to patients.  (Until recently, I myself had never encountered a real patient-centered physician).

As I discussed in an earlier post, the majority of physicians today employ a paternalistic, physician-directed style of communicating with patients.   As such, there is no evidence to suggest that the patient communication skills of physicians practicing in accredited PCMHs are any more patient-centered that their counter parts in traditional practices.

Based upon the literature, what is absent in this first generation of PCMH pilots is any serious, systematic attention given to assessing and/or improving the quality of the patient-centered communication skills of physicians and their care teams.   This oversight is worth noting since the benefits expected by policy makers and underwriters of PCMHs and ACOs under health care reform have been linked in the research to the strong patient-centered communications and not HIT, team care and care coordinators.

Why Is This Important If PCMH Pilots Are Reporting Positive Outcomes?  

The early saving being reported by many PCMH pilots may well represent the “low hanging fruit.” This is not an unreasonable supposition given that most physician practices have never had EMRs, care coordinators, or team care prior to the PCMH pilots.  As is so often the case, within a short few years, this low hanging fruit will disappear.

But there is another way. Thirty years of research has demonstrated the benefits of patient-centered communications when it comes to increased productivity, greater patient engagement; better outcomes, lower health care use/cost and superior patient experiences.

Going forward, PCMHs, ACOs and their sponsors will need to look past HIT and team care to the quality of their patient-centered communication skills if they are to assume the role envisioned for them under health care reform.

That’s my opinion…what’s yours?

Note:  Later this Summer, Mind the Gap will be announcing the Adopt One! Challenge TM. for physicians and their care teams.  The goal of the challenge is to encourage physicians and their care teams to adopt one new patient-centered communication skill within 2014. 

Sign-up to learn more about this one-of-a-kind “Challenge”:

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Sources:

Epstein RM, Fiscella K, Lesser CS, Stange KC.  Why the nation needs
a policy push on patient-centered health care. Health Affairs. 2010;29(8):1489-1495.

Ming Tai-Seale, et al.  Recognition as a Patient-Centered Medical Home: Fundamental or Incidental? Annals of Family Medicine. 2013;11:S14-S18.

Street, R., et al.  The Values and Value of Patient-Centered
Care.  Annals of Family Medicine.  2011;9:100-103.

The 10 Commandments of Patient Engagement

As a patient, care giver, researcher and a human being, here ‘s my “take” on what physicians and hospitals, and all the entities that work with them like health plans, ACOs , etc. need to do to effectively increase patient engagement in 2013 and beyond.

1. Act like you are glad to see them (patients) and have time for them… no matter how busy you really are
2. Say something relevant to suggest that you actually remember who they are – don’t get this one wrong
3. Ask how they have been since their last appointment and what brings them in to see you today
4. Probe for the patient’s ideas as to the cause of their complaints and what they would like you to do for them
5. Listen to what the patient has to say without interruption – ask clarifying questions
6. Tell the patient what you recommend doing in the way of tests, treatments and new medications…and explain why you are making those recommendations – ask if that’s ok with the patient…if it’s not ok find out why
7. Pay attention to patient-initiated cues (loss of a job or loved one, sighing…) – they probably are a call for help
8. Express empathy and support to patients
9. Find out what your patient’s health goals are and what steps they believe they can take to achieve them, e.g.,  care planning
10. Ask about or suggest ways that you and your team can support  patients’ long-term care plans

The challenge most physicians and other providers face is not one of how to engage patients.  Most of us patients (people) are already engaged to the extent we:

• went to the bother of calling your staff to make an appointment (never a pleasant experience)
• took time off work to travel to your office
• wait an average of 24 minutes to see you
• sit for 24 minutes thinking about what we want to talk with you about and how you are too busy to listen

Rather the challenge for providers is how to be engaging to patients.  Health care after all is an intensely personal and social interaction between human beings.   My apology to all the health information technology folks who suggest EMRs, web portals and smart phone health apps are the best way to engage patients (they are not).  I for one am convinced that people would be more engaged in the care (they way providers expect and prefer) if only providers were more engaging…lack of time and reimbursement notwithstanding.

I am sure I have missed something so please feel free to add to the list.

Check out more posts on Patient Engagement:

Patient Engagement Is A Physician-Patient Communication Challenge…Not A Health Information Technology Challenge

 Patients Are Often More Engaged In Their Health Than Providers Think

Patent Portals. PHRs, & On-line Decision-Support Tools Alone Will Not Lead To Greater Patient Engagement

Patient Engagement  Infographic

Why It’s So Important For Physicians To Listen – The Patient’s Perspective

A recent qualitative study (structured interviews) of patients conducted at       McGill University School of Medicine underscores the importance of listening in physician-patient interactions.   In this study, patients were asked to identify the qualities of a good physician.   The following is a typical patient response:

“A good physician is somebody who will listen to what the problem is and explain to you what it is and what is being done.’’

When people were asked why listening by the physician was so important, researchers discovered three important themes that have apply to every provider today.

Theme #1 – Respondents (people/patients) believed that listening was essential if the physician was to arrive at the right (and credible) diagnosis. 

Representative Comments:

• ‘Physicians “should trust the person in front of them and hear what they’re saying. . .because I know my body better than anybody else.“

• ‘‘Listen to what they [patients] have to say; not just what other people wrote about them in the doctor’s notes.

• ‘‘[If] I feel that I haven’t had enough time with you to tell you exactly what my story is, even when you give me a prescription I’m going to say, ‘Really? Is this prescription right for me and for my illness? Or [is it] going to give me more complications?’. . .and I think sometimes that’s why you find patients will take it for 1–2 days and after that they forget about it, because they say, ‘He didn’t hear what I had to say about this pain.

Theme #2 – Listening is healing and therapeutic.

For years researchers have written about the therapeutic value of strong physician-patient communications.    Turns out patients recognize the same benefits.  For example,  a physician who listens and “validates the patient’s perspective or expresses empathy may help a patient experience improved psychological well-being—fewer negative emotions (e.g., fear, anxiety) and more positive ones (e.g., hope, optimism, and self-worth) ”

Representative Comments:

• ‘‘If a doctor doesn’t respect the patient, or doesn’t listen, the patient feels more worried and unsettled and this has an impact on their health.’’

• ‘‘Sometimes, listening to a person will cure half of your problem. . . like it takes two or three months to get an appointment. In those two–three months, you make your problem worse by thinking, ‘Oh maybe it is this, or that or that or that.’

• ‘‘if you listen to the patient and give the patient respect, what you are actually doing is helping that person take responsibility for their own health – that they are also in control of the healing process and are involved somehow. So the doctor has to not take all the power away from the patient.’’

For related patient (and physician thoughts) on this subject, check the following story and COMMENTS on CNN

Theme #3 – Listening can foster and strengthen the doctor–patient relationship if it is authentic

Representative Comments:

• ‘‘I want the doctor. . . to have empathy and to listen and to look into my eyes and to make me feel that for that short moment…you are hearing me, you are there for me, and you give me that sense that I matter

• ‘‘It still makes me angry when I think about how I was. . .how I sort of felt ridiculed for my looking into alternative options.’’

• I think they [physicians] should listen out of respect. Sometimes I think that caring and compassion can be patronizing, if it is insincere. You can still be arrogant and project this caring and compassionate facade.

Take Aways

Over all I was struck by the following as I read this study…particularly the respondent comments.

• People/patients in the study clearly recognized the link between effective listening (by providers) and quality of care.    Too often providers are quick to discount the accuracy or validity of patient perceptions of quality whether in the hospital or doctor’s office.  The comments reflected in this study suggest otherwise.

• Listen skills are essential to patient engagement and positive patient experiences.   To be engaging, providers must be “relevant” from the patient’s perspective.   To be relevant, providers must solicit and listen to what patients want to tell them.

• If listening is therapeutic and has the power to heal…does this mean that physicians who 1) do not solicit or 2)  ignore or gloss over patient input are not practicing at the “standard of care?”  Given that poor physician-patient communications is a leading cause of malpractice suits it would seem so.

• Health care providers (physicians and hospitals) would do well routinely do a “deep dive” into their patient satisfaction research to get a true and realistic handle on the quality of their provider’s listening and other communication skills.   I am not sure that the standard HCAPS and CHAPS survey instruments  probe physician-patient communications far enough.

That’s what I think.  What’s your opinion?

Source:

R. L. Street et al.   How does communication heal? Pathways linking clinician-patient communication to health outcomes. Patient Education and Counseling, 2009. 74(3), 295-301.

J.  Jagosh et al.  Patient Education and Counseling.  85 (2011) 369–374