Person- and Family-Centered Care – Putting the patient and the family at the heart of every decision and empowering them to be genuine partners in their care

The next five years will bring a new era of patient and family engagement that will extend significantly beyond the simple involvement of patients and families to new models of care that shift the conversation from “What’s the matter?” to “What matters to you?”

IHI is working with systems both to improve the care experience (building stronger coordination, communication, and compassion) and to increase the level of the patients’ voice and influence. We are testing and spreading new ways to make reliability as relevant to person- and family-centered care as it is to safety and effectiveness. IHI and its partners are starting to demonstrate that engagement and co-design and co-production with individuals and families improves health, quality, and value.

IHI’s focus on person- and family-centered care includes:

• Developing care pathways that are co-designed and co-produced with individuals and their families;
• Ensuring that people’s care preferences are understood and honored, including at the end of life;
• Collaborating with partners on programs designed to improve engagement, shared decision making, and compassionate, empathic care; and
• Working with partners to ensure that communities are supported to stay healthy and to provide care for their loved ones closer to home.