How much do I need to know to really manage my own health care in partnership with my doctor?

Where do I get the information I need?

How do I know the information I'm getting is information I can trust?

How can I best make decisions about various health care choices, based on my own needs, values and preferences?

Increasingly, health care will rely to a much greater extent on more participation by all of us in the decision-making about various health care choices.

Furthermore, we will need the best available information for participating in managing our own care.

Finally, many of us will play a larger role in sharing the costs generated by our choices.

We are trying to be part of the solution in health care by training others in how to use scientific evidence to find out the best care for people. We also design educational programs that are focused on patient-centered care — decision-making, information and decision-aids, helping manage treatment, as examples.

We are committed to consumers and patients being at the heart of health care.

Read about evidence-based medicine here.

Tips designed to help you understand and apply some concepts from “evidence-based medicine” (EBM) to assist you to better evaluate health care information and make choices for your care.

• Consumer Tips To Aid in Evaluating Health Care Quality
  [WORD Doc]

Is your health care system positioned to practice an evidence- and value-based approach? We have an evaluation tool.

• Health Care Quality Systems Assessment Tool
  [PDF] and online tool [WORD Doc]