Our Mission

The Center for Patient Partnerships’ mission is to engender effective partnerships among people seeking health care, people providing health care, and people making policies that guide the health care system. We do this in four inter-connected ways:

• By educating students – using a uniquely trans-disciplinary, experience-based curriculum – to engage in effective, compassionate advocacy;
• By accompanying and assisting patients with life-threatening or serious illnesses on their journey through the health care system;
• By strengthening the field of health advocacy through research on advocacy’s impact and promotion of best practices;
• By enhancing the capacity of patients to influence health policy and the responsiveness of the health care system to consumers’ experiences.

The Need

People from all walks of life face challenges within the U.S. health care system. The Center for Patient Partnerships has developed and tested bold, new strategies to train professionals and consumers to strategically navigate that system. The Center offers an innovative, unprecedented model to educate professionals serving health care consumers who face serious illness. The Center also offers a wealth of information to educate families as they traverse tightropes of access to health care, financial risk, medical decision-making, and employment. Patient advocacy is more relevant than ever before. In its 2006 report on cancer survivorship care, the Institute of Medicine highlighted three health care trends that suggest this is true. First, technological advances in screening, diagnosis and treatment make patients’ health care experiences more complicated. Second, health care delivery systems are being designed to address increasingly complex patient care needs. As a result, patients’ experiences can be fragmented and frustrating. Third, a persistent and energetic consumer movement has emerged to demand high-quality, patient-centered care. In this context, consumers face a forest of abundant and complex information, sometimes missing the trees that can help them access high-quality care. They can easily find themselves weighing options without fully understanding consequences. Meanwhile, providers face increasing demands on time, skills and resources. Helping patients and families address illness-related psychosocial, financial and legal issues can increase satisfaction and adherence to treatment plans. Moreover, emerging evidence suggests that implementing strategies to help consumers, families and caregivers access quality care and become full partners with health care providers can reduce costs while maintaining good outcomes. Advocacy can help accomplish both objectives.

Video

An Introduction to the Center January 17, 2007

The Center created a two-minute introductory video highlighting our mission and service to Wisconsinites. This video was played during major Badger athletic events.