THE ROLE OF PATIENT ACTIVATION IN ACHIEVING BETTER OUTCOMES AND COST-EFFECTIVENESS IN PATIENT CARE

▸Patient activation, an individual's proficiency in managing his or her health care, can be evaluated using the Patient Activation Measure or similar surveys. ▸Highly activated patients take proactive, collaborative roles in maintaining their health and are more likely to engage in healthy and preventative behaviors than their less activated counterparts, incurring lower health-care costs in both the present and future; increased activation also correlates with improved therapeutic outcomes and greater patient satisfaction. ▸As patient activation is a dynamic continuum, clinicians can boost activation by working together with patients to overcome barriers such as social-environmental disadvantages, low self-confidence, and lack of problem-solving and self-management skills. ▸Future health-care reform needs to recognize patient care as a collaborative commitment requiring investment by the clinician, the patient, and the payor: critically, as patients present with more comorbidities, they need to become activated and share in accountability for their own care. ▸To improve the quality, effectiveness, and efficiency of patient care, orthopaedic clinicians should recognize patient activation as a vital sign used to inform and to personalize patient care plans, cooperating with patients to collectively reap the many benefits of high patient activation. © 2015 By the journal of bone and joint surgery, incorporated.