In recent months I have noticed an emerging trend in healthcare. The trend is referred to as ‘patient-focused care’. It is an alternative to both fee-for-service and outcome-based medicine. It is also an alternative that seems to have legs. More healthcare providers are embracing it every day.
One such provider is Utah’s KindlyMD, a modest operation that operates multiple clinics throughout the Beehive State. KindlyMD’s specialty is plant-based medicines obtained with the help of a state-issued Med Card. Their clinics offer medical evaluations and card recommendations. They also provide mental health and medication management services.
KindlyMD states on their website that they practice patient-focused medicine. Patient-focused medicine is a means of practicing medicine with a heavy emphasis on patient needs, preferences, and values. It is practiced with the following four objectives in mind:
1. Improved Patient Satisfaction and Engagement
The first objective is better patient satisfaction and engagement. Providers practicing patient-focused medicine sincerely want their patients to be in control. They want patients to be actively engaged in the decision-making process. As such, providers do not dictate what patients must do. They don’t give orders and then get bent out of shape when patients don’t follow through.
When patients are engaged, they also tend to be more satisfied. Allowing them to take control of their own healthcare gives them a sense of ownership and investment. They walk away happier even when outcomes are not as good as they had hoped.
2. Better Treatment Outcomes
Of course, a major goal in every healthcare setting is to achieve the best possible outcome. Patient-focused medicine seeks better treatment outcomes by moving beyond western medicine’s limited options. The previous example of KindlyMD’s emphasis on plant-based medicines illustrates the point perfectly.
Many of their patients have tried other treatments with no success. They have taken prescription medications and undergone physical therapy. Some of them have tried surgical procedures. It is not until they try plant-based medicine that they find the relief they are looking for.
3. Patient Empowerment
As previously stated, patient-focused medicine seeks to give patients control over their own healthcare decisions. That is empowering in and of itself. But patient empowerment goes even further. When patients take control of their healthcare decisions, they tend to exercise that control outside of the doctor’s office. They tend to make decisions that promote a healthier lifestyle so that going back to the doctor is not necessary.
It is actually an amazing thing to behold. When patients realize they are not wholly dependent on the healthcare system, they are more likely to make wiser and healthier decisions. But when they are told they do not have the knowledge to make such decisions, they lean toward bad decisions that ultimately send them to see the doctor. Patient-focused healthcare encourages good decisions.
4. Compassionate Healthcare Delivery
Finally, the fourth objective of patient-focused care is to provide healthcare delivery in a compassionate way. Sometimes there is no cure for a particular condition. Sometimes the best a clinician can do Is come up with a way to alleviate symptoms. The compassionate thing to do is help a patient feel better even if that person will never get physically better.
I have experienced all three types of healthcare: fee-for-service, outcome-based, and patient-focused medicine. I prefer patient focused. Pain Clinics like KindlyMD.com are doing it right, at least in my opinion. I wish their philosophy were the norm rather than being an outlier.
Perhaps the time has come for patient-focused healthcare across the board. If our healthcare system decided to dispense with fee-for-service and outcome-based medicine in favor of focusing on patients, I would not complain.
