Health care professionals from California and surrounding states recently convened at an annual symposium aimed at delivering on the promise of patient-centered care.

The second annual USC Choi Family Patient-Centered Care Symposium, held April 30, is one component of the USC Choi Family Excellence in Patient-Centered Care Endowment established in 2016 by Keck Medicine of USC through a generous gift from the Choi family. The endowment also includes a patient-centered care program and an annual awards ceremony for excellence in patient-centered care.

The daylong symposium featured keynote speakers and panel discussions about the current state of patient experience, a physician’s journey toward patient-centered care, patient experience leadership and accountability.

“This symposium was created to continue to share best practices amongst our colleagues and to ensure we deliver on the person-centered care promise,” explained Char Ryan, MHA, patient experience and employee engagement officer at Keck Medicine of USC.  “We are very grateful to the Choi family for providing this endowment to continue our great work. Many attendees from health care entities across Southern California were present to learn and share with each other.”

Jason A. Wolf, PhD, president of The Beryl Institute, encouraged the audience to be tiny ripples of hope for patients with each interaction.

“In every moment, in every interaction that we have with another human being we’re making a choice,” explained Wolf, who also is the founder and president of the Patient Experience Institute. “If we can begin to create the lens where good choices are made, then we could actually drive good outcomes. Choice becomes a factor in so many ways in health care and it’s growing in terms of the way we address the work of health care today in some significant ways.”

The symposium concluded with a presentation by former patients who now are part of the Keck Medicine of USC Patient and Family Advisory Council, regarding their journey to bring the patient voice to Keck Medicine. Next year’s symposium will be held on Monday, April 29, 2019  at the California Endowment Center.

— L. Alexis Young