Patient-Centered Care: Shared Decision Making

An Essential Element of Patient-Centered Care

Shared decision making is a process through which a patient and healthcare provider work together to develop a care plan based on that individual’s unique priorities. It provides a framework for incorporating patient preferences into clinical decisions, improving treatment adherence, quality of care, and, ultimately, health outcomes. Shared decision making enables providers to recommend treatment options that best align with patients’ goals and encourages patients to consider clinical and value-driven information—rather than simply cost or effectiveness rates—when selecting a prescription drug, medical device, or treatment plan.

Shared decision making is particularly helpful in instances where there are multiple therapies available with different side effects, modalities, and other potential life impacts. Patients can collaborate with their provider to assess the options that are most aligned with their needs, characteristics, and preferences, and together determine the best path forward. Literature shows that shared decision making in disease areas (e.g., prostate cancer) and among diverse patient populations can have a significant impact on self-advocacy, decision making agency, and engagement with patients and caregivers.

Supporting Clients, Empowering Patients

At Avalere, we design evidence-based tools tailored to specific disease states and therapeutic areas that empower patients with the information they need to make medical decisions that address their priorities. We use patient and provider perspectives to design prototypes, validate those prototypes via end-user testing, and implement and evaluate our shared-decision-making tools in real-world clinical encounters.

With expertise that spans multiple fields and cross-functional capabilities, we offer end-to-end support in the design and implementation of these tools. Specifically, we offer:

• Access to relevant patient groups
• Clinical insights from in-house and partnering physicians, pharmacists, nurses, and other providers
• Expertise in mixed-methods research, qualitative research design, and interviewing processes