In recent years, awareness of the patient’s important role in managing his or her own care has been steadily growing—fed not only by such trends as the proliferation of health information on the internet and direct-to-consumer advertising, but also by the emerging science of patient-centered decision making. One way to facilitate shared decision making is through the use of decision support tools, which offer the patient high quality medical information in an easily understandable format. How do these tools work? How might shared decision making benefit patients, purchasers and providers of care? These questions and others were explored at this briefing, cosponsored by the Alliance for Health Reform, the National Committee for Quality Assurance and the Foundation for Informed Medical Decision Making.

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Speakers for this session:

The panel is moderated by Ed Howard of the Alliance for Health Reform.

• Helen Darling, National Business Group on Health
• Michael Barry Foundation for Informed Medical Decision Making
• Karen Merrikin, Group Health Cooperative of Puget Sound
• David Shern, Mental Health America