Empowering patients to be effective advocates for their health requires that they have
adequate information and understanding about their health conditions. Many patients have …

F ueled by the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and accreditation and credentialing requirements,
physicians are being called on to deliver patient-centered care, reduce medical errors and …

Timothy E. Paterick, MD, JD, MBA, Nachiket Patel, MD, A. Jamil Tajik, MD, and
Krishnaswamy Chandrasekaran, MD literacy is defined as the capacity to seek, understand …

Research into health literacy and shared decision-making has largely developed along
parallel, but distinct lines over the past two decades. There is little evidence that the …

Ours is an era in which patients seek greater engagement in health care choices, increasing
the demand for high-quality information about clinical options. Providing support for …

Good-quality care requires that procedures, treatments, and tests be not only medically
appropriate, but also desired by informed patients. Current evidence shows that most …

(3) A different issue is that when patients are not well informed, and physicians make
decisions for them, medical care is not appropriately distributed. The phenomena of …

Patients, their families, and clinicians face a wide range of complex and often confusing
choices when it comes to addressing health and health care concerns. They need …

Health literacy is the degree to which individuals have the capacity to obtain, process, and
understand health information, skills, and services needed to make informed health …

The passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is affirming a new era for
health care delivery in the United States, with an increased focus on patient engagement …