Improving the Safety-Net Patient Experience: 10 Things Health Centers Can Do

Under the Affordable Care Act, the newly competitive marketplace for safety-net health care makes a patient-centered approach more important than ever. Patients who feel a personal connection with their caregivers are more informed, engaged and satisfied with their care – and more loyal to their care facilities. Community health centers can take positive steps to achieve these goals.

Blue Shield of California Foundation surveys since 2011 have underscored the importance of patientcenteredness for California’s safety-net community health centers (CHCs). The research finds three keys to engaging patients: Connectedness, which means a sense among patients that someone at their care facility knows them well; continuity, or seeing the same caregivers over time; and strong patient-provider relationships – the quality of communication between patients and caregivers.

Successful patient-provider relationships empower patients to take an active role in their care. And empowered patients are far more apt to be engaged and satisfied ones. To reach these goals, the Foundation’s research finds, there are 10 things CHCs can do.