Toby Cosgrove, MD, on How The Cleveland Clinic Focuses on Patient-Centered Care

Toby Cosgrove, MD, president and CEO, The Cleveland Clinic, says the Clinic has been moving toward patient-centered care for almost a decade. Its mantra, “patients first,” aligns with how it has structured the clinic around the patient experience. This structure includes the physical experience, improving everything from the way the hospital looks, to how patients’ gowns fit, to the emotional experience.

“It’s really about communication. We take all of our 43,000 care givers offline for half a day and we talk about the Cleveland Clinic experience,” says Dr Cosgrove. “We’ve seen tremendous increase in employee engagement, and tremendous increase in patient satisfaction, and a decrease in the number of patient complaints.”