Becoming a Partner in Your Own Care

Instead of health care being a top-down, doctor-driven system, patients need to play a role and have a voice in their own care, argues Thomas Goetz in his book, The Decision Tree: Taking Control of Your Health in the New Era of Personalized Medicine.

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"Individuals who are actively involved in making their own medical decisions have significantly better outcomes than those who rely only on their doctors to make the calls," Goetz writes. "In other words, simply by participating in the process, we're more likely to have better results."

In the following excerpt from an interview with Prime Time Radio host Mike Cuthbert, Goetz discusses the importance of patients actively engaging in their medical choices and being able to easily access, share and maintain their medical histories.

He continues by talking about personal health records (often called PHRs) and the ways in which medical providers will need to change how they relate to and communicate with their patients.