The Importance of Asking the Right Questions

In the current healthcare environment, patients are expected to participate in their health care more than ever before. This participation prompts providers to understand the challenges their patients might face in taking part in their health care.  For instance, providers might ask why a patient isn’t taking their medicine, or why do some patients frequently contact their doctor and some not at all? 

The healthcare system is developing interventions to facilitate patient engagement in their care. Many times, however, these efforts take a one-size-fits-all approach and may not address critical components of an individual person’s capacity to engage. 

In this session, Cindy Sieck, an expert on the interaction of health IT and patient engagement, will discuss the Engagement Capacity Framework, a developing model to understand an individual’s strengths and weaknesses related to engagement. The Engagement Capacity Framework incorporates social determinants of health to better understand the patient’s situation and help shape future patient engagement efforts.