Why Patients May Be the Health Care System’s Most Valuable Experts
Summary
The U.S. health care system faces challenges like worker shortages, complex patient needs, and disconnected services. A new approach involves patients who have lived through these challenges helping to design better care systems that address multiple health issues together.Key Facts
- The U.S. health care system is dealing with a shortage of about 248,000 health care workers.
- Many patients with complex illnesses face long waits, misdiagnoses, and difficult navigation through healthcare processes.
- Health care is often divided into specialties that do not communicate well, making it hard to treat patients with multiple conditions.
- A disability-led nonprofit, Hyp+Access, created a patient-designed health care model focused on connective tissue disorders and similar conditions.
- This nonprofit recently got approval to build a regulated treatment center in New York.
- Historically, medicine’s focus on specialties started after the 1910 Flexner Report, which also contributed to the closure of many Black medical schools and created lasting exclusion.
- Bias and health care organization cause harm to patients who have complex, chronic illnesses and limited resources.
- Patients' lived experiences are now seen as valuable for creating better, integrated health care models.
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