The Impact of Shared Decision-Making, Patient Decision Aids on Cost, Utilization

Associated with improved patient satisfaction and quality of care, shared decision-making (SDM), which is the process by which clinicians work with patients to explore care choices, and patient decision aids (PtDAs), the evidence-based tools designed to educate patients about their options, have garnered conflicting data regarding their impact on cost and utilization.

Panelists of a session presented this week at the Pharmacy Quality Alliance (PQA) 2021 Annual Meeting noted that SDM and PtDAs’ influence on medication adherence may signal beneficial cost implications from these patient-centered strategies.

“Stakeholders often assume that engaging in SDM will reduce health care costs, which is the third part of the Triple Aim” said panelist Kimberly Westrich, vice president of Health Services Research at the National Pharmaceutical Council (NPC). “They think it might do this by empowering patients to make treatment decisions that reduce unnecessary, invasive, or costly care, but the actual impacts of SDM and PtDAs on cost and utilization have not been well studied.”

During the session, “The Impact of Shared Decision-Making on Cost and Utilization and Implications for Value-Based Care,” Westrich was also joined by panelist Theresa Schmidt, vice president at Discern Health. Both panelists’ respective organizations are seeking to further explore whether SDM and PtDAs reduce health care costs and utilization.

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