Why Is Patient-Centricity Important in Healthcare?

Definition of patient centricity is "putting the patient first in an open and sustained engagement of the patient to respectfully and compassionately achieve the best experience and outcome for that person and their family".

One of the approaches that has become fashionable in healthcare services in recent years is patient-centricity. So what does patient-centricity mean and why is it so important in healthcare? In our article, we examined in detail why all stakeholders in health services should focus on patients in order to survive. If you are ready, we can start to examine the issue of patient-centricity together.

Nowadays, because of the increasing competition, healthcare providers have to improve health outcomes with less cost. Many sectors preferred to focus on customer empowerment strategies, as they had great problems in getting better output with less cost. For example, we can handle our banking transactions ourselves, we can do our flight ticket transactions ourselves. This customer empowerment process transforms the healthcare industry with patient-centricity.

What Is Patients Empowerment?

With the rapid development of technology and communication, consumers in all sectors, including the health sector, have become much empowered. According to a survey, more than 75 percent of US adults have accessed health information online in the past year. Thanks to applications and devices such as social media, patient groups, health and wellness mobile applications, wearables, it has become very easy for patients to access health information over the internet, thus patients have an active role in their own health than ever before.

Thanks to the rapid advancement of the Internet and technology, patients today are much better equipped, knowledgeable, engaged and able to conduct their own research very effectively for their own health. Therefore, the limited messages offered for the products are not sufficient for the empowered patient population. In order to stand out in the competitive environment, healthcare providers should base their healthcare management, support, and education strategies on patient focus.

What Is Patient Adherence?

One of the most important issues in the health sector is the issue of patient adherence. According to a study conducted by the World Health Organization, 50 percent of patients with chronic diseases do not take their medicines in accordance with their prescriptions. This situation causes very poor health outcomes. This situation also leads to wasted resources and increased costs. If products or services are developed without considering patient needs and priorities, it is an expected result that patient adherence will remain at a very low level.

On the contrary, services designed by considering the patient's priorities, needs and the path they will follow will increase both patient adherence and patient engagement. Manufacturers are aware of the need to be output oriented today, but they do not have a clear understanding of what the ideal patient outcome is. Even greater success can be achieved by placing patients' needs at the core of company strategies and treating patients as if they were a partner of the company.

It is not possible for healthcare providers to survive if they cannot adopt the concept of patient-centricity in the health sector and cannot implement this approach. Institutions that best understand patient needs and can respond to these needs in the fastest and most appropriate way will be one step ahead of their competitors in the coming years. For this reason, all healthcare providers should understand the patient-centric approach very well and educate their employees and patients on this issue.

The most effective way to improve health outcomes while reducing costs is to apply the patient-centric approach in all parts of the organization. In order to put this approach into practice effectively, it is necessary to receive feedback from patients, educate and supervise patients and employees. Healthcare providers that make this transformation in the fastest way will always be one step ahead in the race.

In addition, you can get detailed information about wearable technology by reading our article titled Does Wearable Technology Improve Health? See you on different topics.