'Your Voice Matters' Continues to Speak Volumes

Continuing its focus on consumer engagement, the Puget Sound Health Alliance (PSHA), through its Your Voice Matters initiative, has invited e-Patient Dave (Dave deBronkart) to put a face and story to its patient empowerment mission. E-Patient Dave is a cancer survivor whose catchphrase, “patient is not a third-person word,” embodies the Your Voice Matters initiative.

Your Voice Matters is PSHA’s groundbreaking effort to understand how patients experience their primary health care providers and give them tools to take ownership of their health. Its newest feature is the Patient Experience Survey, which includes 40 medical groups and thousands of patients in 156 clinic locations around Puget Sound. The survey examines providers’ timeliness of appointments, care, and information; communication with patients; staff demeanor; and the patient’s overall rating. As a result of this powerful information, patients can be more active participants in their health, and providers are held to a higher standard of quality care.

While the survey itself is a huge undertaking, the impact of Your Voice Matters intensifies with the Alliance’s use of web technology. Through the website wacommunitycheckup.org, current and potential patients can now easily search by name, county, or ZIP code to see how providers in their area rate in the patient experience survey and other key data points.

Your Voice Matters is part of PSHA’s larger Community Check Up report, which compares health care across the Puget Sound region. Covering the topics of medical groups, clinics, hospitals, and patient experience, the report enables members of the community to easily and conveniently access previously unavailable data, from hospital mortality rates to the availability of more affordable generic drugs.