Making patient-centered care come alive: achieving full integration of the patient's perspective.

A patient-centered model of care has profound implications for the way that care is planned, delivered, and evaluated. Although most leaders in healthcare organizations today embrace the basic tenets of a patient-centered philosophy, they often find that moving toward a patient-centered model requires an unanticipated level of commitment and significant adjustments in organizational structures. In this article, the authors describe how patients and families have been integrated into the care delivery model by involving them in planning, decision-making, and improvement processes at all levels of the organization.