Welcome to the Center for Consumers of Healthcare (CCH)

Consumer voices need to be heard - about what quality and safety in healthcare - in the hospital, the clinic, a nursing home, hospice - mean to us. That is what CCH is all about - a "1-stop-shop" for consumers (and anyone interested) to learn more about the quality and safety and get involved.

Patients are the center of care - the reason the healthcare system exists. It should revolve around meeting the patients - our- healthcare needs. Everyone is aware that the patient is the focus of the care - but being the focus of care is different from being a partner. It is not enough that we are the focus in our personal healthcare. We need to be a "partner", not only in our daily care, but in the whole process of developing and redesigning the healthcare system.

The good news is - more and more people are saying the same thing and looking for ways to reach consumers. We need to understand what performance improvement and quality measures are all about - and get involved.

What CCH does and focuses on will evolve over the coming months as we get more experience in this and get more consumers involved. We have already learned that we need to provide much more background information and translate the draft quality measures into "consumer friendly" language. We are in the process of doing that - but it will take some time. There's a lot of material to work on. Please be patient - and please keep telling us what isn't clear and what is "medical jargon".

The possibilities for what we can do through this center are endless. We can help define the future healthcare system so that it meets our needs and so that it is a satisfying work experience for those providing care. Most of them chose healthcare because they wanted to help take care of people and help them be healthier. We can help make that a reality again.

We are not about "empowering" patients - if that means someone else is giving consumers the power to be involved. And not if it is about "allowing" us to participate in the process. No one needs to 'give' the consumer - the patient - power. We have it just by being here! But, over the years, patients did give away alot of decision-making and power to their doctors and hospitals and clinics. It's really a matter of claiming it again - as equally important people in the healthcare system. We need to educate ourselves so that we can participate more effectively.

Are patients more important than the doctors or nurses or many others who Is it more important than the others who are part of the system? Probably not - we are all important but there wouldn't be a healthcare system if there were no patients. Patients - as consumers, have been the silent ones, the ones who have not been active in creating the change that is underway in the healthcare system. Now is the time to change that. We need to speak up! and participate!

We need to do this NOW - before things are redesigned and put into place. We need to be there at the designing table. We don't want to wait until the changes become part of the healthcare system - we want to be part of the creation! Our goal with CCH is to bring the issues to the public. We want to use the Internet to get the word out and get comments back from patients/consumers about the important issues being addressed now.   

The Center For Consumers of Healthcare (CCH) will address these areas and more. Join us - Learn - Speak Up - Share your experience, your ideas, your concerns. Help us make consumers active participants - designing our healthcare for ourselves, our family, friends and everyone!  

Last updated: August 10, 2010.