Inside the Ambulatory Practice of the Future

Patient engagement may very well be the blockbuster drug of the 21st century, and it's also the guiding principle behind the "Ambulatory Practice of the Future."

Patient engagement may very well be the blockbuster drug of the 21st century, and it's also the guiding principle behind the Ambulatory Practice of the Future.

Founded in 2010, the Ambulatory Practice of the Future at Massachusetts General Hospital was built on the premise of testing different business and clinical care models in an attempt to redefine the rules of patient engagement.

The practice leverages team-based care, coaching, education, and technology to help patients overcome barriers and change their behavior, according to practice founder David Judge, MD, an internist.

In the video below, Judge speaks with Medical Economics about building a care team, adopting technology to improve communication among patients and staff, and what it really means to be patient-centered. (Read an in-depth article on the practice here.)

"Patient-centeredness for us meant finding ways to really engage each patient in setting goals for their health," Judge says. "And we learned that that really meant that each patient's voice has to be heard, and they have to steer the care plan in a lot of ways. Traditionally, our culture doesn't allow that. We usually tell patients what to do and sort of send them on their way to do that. In our practice, our vision was that there would be a lot more of a partnership with patients."

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