engleski

The Paradigm of Patient-Centered Care in the Public Health Decision-Making

Equitable provision of health care has been a longstanding goal in many European countries. Provision of such universal coverage comes with the problem of growing health expenditures that is recognized globally. This article argues that patient-centered care (PCC), which has become a new promising paradigm for cost- effective provision of health care, should also become the new paradigm in the public health decision-making. PCC relates to the notion that patients’ preferences, objectives and values should be considered in the process of decision-making and delivery of health care. If we apply the PCC paradigm to the public health issue, it can be argued that any public health program or health policy should be created and evaluated considering patients’ preferences. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to elaborate the importance of preference elicitation in health care decision-making as a part of PCC.

health care ; health decision-making ; patient-centered care ; stated preference

This study was founded by the Croatian Science Foundation under the project 6558 Business and Personal Insolvency – the Ways to Overcome Excessive Indebtedness, and by the University of Rijeka under the project: Approaches and Methods of Cost and Management Accounting in Croatian Public Sector (No. 13.02.1.2.09).