Moving Toward Person- and Family-Centered Care

Person- and family-centered care (PFCC) has gained attention in recent years as a mechanism for transforming health care and long-term services and supports (LTSS).  Although research shows that PFCC improves quality of care and quality of life, it has not yet been fully integrated across health care and LTSS as an essential part of all care and support.  However, the current shift in payment reform and service delivery away from disease or provider-focused models and toward incentives that reward better coordination, communication, and continuity of care, is likely to promote wider adoption and effective implementation of PFCC.  This Insight on the Issues defines PFCC, highlights the importance of the family in a PFCC approach, and describes the key elements of PFCC in practice.