Jason A. Wolf

While the focus on value has shifted the healthcare conversation and resulting actions for the better, in many ways, it still misses a fundamental point.

I have often found that the distinctions we draw between concepts seen as opposites are truly opportunities for alignment, improvement and sustained performance.

A commitment to patient experience includes engaging the voices of those we serve in healthcare.

Earlier this month, I had the opportunity to address a conference room full of physicians and clinical leaders on what matters in patient experience and the new mindset that is shifting the way we work in healthcare today.

For those who have followed my thoughts over the last few years, you may not be surprised to hear me suggest that patient experience matters in healthcare today.

I have been involved in a few conversations of late in which people--patients and healthcare providers alike--still see experience as a reactive or passive engagement.

I remain resolute in my position that patient experience is about much more than surveys or what they encompass--especially the Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (CAHPS) measurements in the U.S. or surveys we see emerging in countries around the world.

A lot has been written and materials developed of late around the idea of patient and family engagement.

In my most recent Hospital Impact blog, I reinforced the simple, but significant need to focus on 3 Ps of Patient Experience, offering that at the core of this idea is the central purpose on which an organization builds its experience effort.

To excel at patient experience, you must have a foundation of purpose on which to determine the best people, design the best processes and build the best place.