Patient Experience of Care

Activated health care consumers are agents for their own care. They may exercise this agency by choosing among health plans, accessing and interpreting provider cost and quality data, and understanding medical information and treatments [155]. Patients who are more activated tend to make more effective use of health care resources and engage in more positive health behaviors than other patients [156], and higher levels of patient activation have been found to be associated with better health outcomes and lower costs [157, 158]. Activated health care consumers are also more likely to seek out health information, ask questions of providers, and be aware of treatment guidelines [159], enabling them to participate in more effective health care decision making.