Patients can determine their own care and be responsible for their own health by effective self-management. Patients and providers should work together to create treatment plans.

Effective self-management is very different from telling patients what to do. Patients have a central role in determining their care, one that fosters a sense of responsibility for their own health. In several community health centers, teams use a collaborative approach: one in which providers and patients work together to define problems, set priorities, establish goals, create treatment plans, and solve problems along the way.