Transforming care teams to provide the best possible patient-centered, collaborative care

Patient experience of care is now a crucial parameter in assessing the quality of healthcare delivered in the United States. Continuity, patient-driven access to care, and being "known" by a provider or practice, particularly for patients with chronic diseases, have been shown to enhance patient satisfaction with care and health outcomes. Healthcare systems are challenged to effectively meet the wants and needs of patients by tailoring interventions based on each person's unique set factors-his or her strengths, preferences, and personal and social context. Creating care teams, a coordinated multidisciplinary group of healthcare professionals, enables a practice to take advantage of the skill sets represented and redesign care delivery with the patient and community as the focal point. This article describes the attributes of highly functioning care teams, how to measure them, and guidance on creating them. A case example illustrates how these ideas work in practice.