Getting from a doctor-centered system to patient-centered care

Here is a talk I gave at the annual meeting of the National Physicians Alliance on October 20, 2013, in Washington, DC. The briefest version is this: Everyone talks about patient-centered care and realizes that our system is doctor-centered. How do we square the circle and get from one to the other? Patient-centered care is a mantra more often repeated than deliberated on and well defined. We must recognize that patients are unique individuals, and that the relationship between the primary care provider and the patient, a pillar of an improved system, must include all sorts of patients – no matter what their desired involvement in decision-making.