Patient-focused care: is it for your hospital?

Advocates of Patient-Focused Care (PFC) claim that a win-win resolution to the cost/quality dilemma can be achieved by placing the patient's concerns at the center of planning. With the patient as the central focus, a whole new paradigm of care emerges which links all components of systems redesign work with a common, defining purpose. Before embarking on such a change effort, planners should carefully examine PFC assumptions for relevance to their specific environment.