To become a reality, the promise of patient engagement requires good data, communication, transparency, quality measures, and most importantly, listening to the patient's goals, according to experts interviewed Tuesday by The Hill's Bob Cusack and Sarah Ferris.
Dr. Patrick Conway, Deputy Administrator at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, said for the past three to five years quality measures, through such sites as Home Health Compare, and cost transparency, have been a focus for the agency that recognizes the need to include patients in outcome measures.
Continuing its move away from fee-for-service, CMS plans to tie 90 percent of payments to value by 2018.
One challenge to patient engagement is getting across to consumers what delivery system reform means, Conway said.
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"We have not solved that communication challenge," he said.
Another is investing provider resources into the population most in need of care, according to National Health Council CEO Marc Boutin.
This means paying more attention to the individual needs and goals of chronic care patients.
"We should be paying providers to spend more time with the 20 percent of the population that drives 80 percent of the cost," he said.
When care and patient goals are combined, there are improvements in outcomes and costs, he said.
[Also: HHS gives $685 million to healthcare organizations to support broad patient engagement initiatives]
"We're beginning to ask patients for the first time, what is of value to you?" Boutin said.
Christine Cassel, MD, president and CEO of the National Quality Forum, said information gained from technology can identify the person who needs more care and attention.
"Once you have the right kind of data, you can identify that's the person I need to spend time with, or call at home," she said. "There's huge potential for technology of all sorts."
Janet Wright, MD, executive director of Million Hearts said, "As we move towards value, we can afford the team members for care coordination."
Engaging patients also means reaching out to them outside of the provider setting, whether it's to their home computer, or holding a blood pressure clinic in a church.
High blood pressure isn't always picked up in the hospital or clinic.
Barbara Hutchinson, MD, president-elect of the Association of Black Cardiologists, said that over the past month, she has met over a dozen patients in their 70s who have never seen a provider. Access is still an issue, especially in rural areas, she said.
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Wright said, "If I have high blood pressure, I have a 50/50 chance of it being controlled."
This is true despite the fact that 85 percent of those with high blood pressure have insurance, she said.
"How is that possible?" Wright asked. "One of those reasons, they didn't come in for that, they came in for something else."
Wright heads the Million Hearts initiative that was started in 2012 to prevent a million heart attack or stroke events over five years.
Heart disease remains the number one killer, despite knowing how to make it go away, Wright said.
A link between providers and patients has been shown to reduce that health risk, she said.
"When that happens, heart attacks and stroke rates fall, like a rock," she said. "Patient centered care, it really means listening to what the patient means, and the nuances in their care."
Twitter: @SusanJMorse