By Tim Vaughan

Patient-centered care augmented by impactful patient engagement is a significant aspect of the modern healthcare journey. Healthcare consumers desire a care experience that reflects their personalized needs and meets their unique circumstances with a growing shift toward patients seeking an increased connection with their care team as active participants in their care. Now more than ever before, patients are selecting their healthcare partner based on desired outcomes, experience, cost, and more.

The National Academy of Medicine defines patient-centered care as "care that is respectful of and responsive to individual patient preferences, needs, and values, and ensures that patient values help guide clinical decisions." As this approach takes greater shape throughout the industry, healthcare decision-makers must increasingly pursue emerging technologies and facility designs that align with a more patient- and family-centered model of care. The healthcare industry can thoughtfully leverage digital advancements to achieve what patients and healthcare professionals need most.

With patient collaboration and input from de-siloed systems such as integrated electronic health records (EHR), longitudinal claims data, and psychosocial data, a healthcare team can provide more accurate and personalized care. The best patient outcomes result from tailor-made care plans based on the specific patient’s background and life circumstances. Healthcare isn’t “one size fits all.” With the right digital solutions, healthcare teams can optimize collaboration and actionable data to guarantee the best outcomes, safest environments, efficient processes, and a strong ROI.

Emerging technologies address patient needs with personalized care
Through digital transformation, healthcare leaders can make it easier for patients and clinicians to partner in achieving higher-quality outcomes. It can start with a digital front door enabling patients to find and book an appointment on their own time using a preferred device. Meanwhile, patient engagement technology provides various opportunities for customized education, data capture, and strong connections for better outcomes.

The digital journey created through an Interactive Patient Care System (IPS) is designed to put the patient and family at the center of care with integrations to the patient’s medical record. Leveraging an IPS, in-room smart television technology creates a communication hub to connect patients, clinicians, and loved ones during an episode of care. For example, integrated virtual care improves the in-patient stay by allowing patients to easily video chat with friends and family or bring remote language interpreters into the room to improve communication with the care team while also empowering staff to launch a virtual consult or rounding session into the patient room with one click from the EHR. The entertainment offerings on a patient engagement system also play a crucial role by providing a positive distraction for patients, which is shown to improve healing.

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