Patient Priorities Care

Faculty lead: Aanand Naik, M.D.

Challenges: Care for older adults with chronic conditions is often poorly coordinated, limited by a focus on single-disease guidelines, and inconsistent with what matters most (i.e., patient priorities). Despite recognizing the importance of advance care planning, only one in four older adults has discussed this issue with their provider.

Unmet health needs: Fragmented, single-disease guidelines–based healthcare often results in burdensome care while also exposing older adults to harm care that is unnecessary or inconsistent with patient priorities.

Unmet education and training needs: Providers and interprofessional trainees in primary care require training in clarifying patient priorities and appropriately aligning care based on what matters most. Providers and trainees often have discomfort due to lack of preparedness in addressing care planning and palliative care.

Initiative Vision: The SETx-GWEP will educate health professions in Patient Priorities Care (PPC), a structured process to identify and align patient priorities with current and advanced care planning, which can reduce treatment burden and enhance patients’ sense of personal and community integration. Furthermore, education about implementing advance care planning conversations into primary care encounters will improve provider comfort and increase the feasibility of completing appropriate Medicare-defined care plan documentation.

• Texas Southern University - Houston
• Baylor College of Medicine
• University of Houston Colleges of Medicine, Social Work, and Pharmacy
• UT Cizik School of Nursing
• Baylor St. Luke’s Primary Care Network
• BakerRipley Senior Services
• Lone Star Circle of Care
• Hope Clinic
• Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center