Why human resources policies and practices are critical to improving the patient experience

Abstract

While providing patient-centered care seems to be a goal for many organizations, delivering on this goal requires practices which are embedded in the organization, which incent patient-centered behavior. The author argues Human Resources (HR) policies, procedures and programs are key to supporting an organizations’ vision and culture. This means an HR executive partnering with the CEO who sets the vision and HR builds programs to support the vision. As the organization understands what is important to patients and how to best serve them, HR can build patient care improvement into every aspect of the organization. The author describes how competency based hiring, training and development, performance reviews, compensation and retention strategies should reflect patient-centered values.

Keywords

• human resources
• patient and family advisory council
• patient engagement
• patient experience