Putting Patients at the Center of Care

Imagine managing a chronic illness like diabetes or recovering from surgery without clear guidance or coordinated support. For many Americans, that’s the reality. Instead of receiving patient-centered care from clinicians who know their history and engage them in decisions, people often must navigate a confusing, costly system on their own—leading to missed diagnoses, errors and unnecessary care.

Despite nearly $5 trillion in annual health care spending—almost a fifth of the economy—U.S. outcomes still lag other developed countries. Disjointed care, rising costs, and misaligned incentives stress patients, providers, and the system overall. 
 

Growing evidence suggests that meaningfully engaging patients and families in care decisions, as well as broader health system organization, governance and policymaking, can improve outcomes and reduce costs.

AIR has decades of experience translating research into practice. We work with patients, clinicians, hospitals, payers, policymakers, and others to design strategies that elevate the voices of patients and families, improve care delivery, and strengthen system performance.

AIR's work includes:

• Designing Practical Engagement Strategies – AIR developed a nationally recognized framework to guide health care professionals and organizations in building meaningful partnerships with patients and families to make care more customized, responsive, effective and safe.
   
• Building Skills and Capacity – AIR develops training for clinicians, hospitals, nursing homes and others to apply evidence-based practices that center real-time patient input into quality improvement and patient safety efforts. 
   
• Bridging Research and Reality – We translate complex clinical research findings into toolkits and plain-language summaries that help patients and clinicians better understand treatment options and make informed choices. 
   
• Bringing Patient Perspectives to the Table – AIR helps elevate patient and family voices across the health care system so their real-world experiences can inform, for example, development of quality measures that reflect what matters most to patients or what health plan benefits are most important to dually eligible Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries who often face barriers to care.
   

By embedding patient voices in health care improvement, AIR’s work is making care safer, more affordable, and more responsive across settings:

• Less Harm, More Lives Saved – Through the national Partnership for Patients initiative, AIR helped hospitals provide safer care by engaging patients and family in patient-centered safety practices like bedside huddles during shift changes and improved discharge planning. Over four years, the initiative prevented an estimated 2.1 million harms to patients, saved 87,000 lives, and reduced costs by nearly $20 billion.
   
• Better Protection for Older Adults – In nursing homes, up to 75% of antibiotics are prescribed incorrectly. AIR’s practical toolkits help clinicians and families reduce antibiotic misuse and overuse, preventing infections and protecting frail residents from drug-resistant superbugs.
   
• Smarter Use of Resources – Our work has helped lower costs and reduce preventable complications like medication errors, hospital falls, and serious infections.
   
• A Stronger Health System – By engaging patients and families across care delivery, health care organizational design and governance, and policymaking, AIR helps improve access, quality, and patient experience.

At AIR, we believe that better care starts with listening. By partnering with individuals, families, providers, payers, policymakers and others, we’re helping to build a system that puts patients at the center of care and delivers safer, smarter, and more coordinated care.