The Institute of Medicine, in its report “Crossing the Quality Chasm,” argued for patient-centered care to be one of the six aims for health moving forward. For years, the status quo has involved providers using their professional judgment to make a decision, with patients simply agreeing to the decision and following the doctor’s orders. However, this method has failed to consider important issues such as cost of medications and potential side effects. Shared decision-making and increased patient involvement in care have become hallmarks of today’s health care system.

There are striking similarities between the research that I am conducting this summer and the work done at Varsa Health. I am working at the University Of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine to evaluate a web-based decision aid for preventative cardiology. The decision aid allows patients to enter their risk factors such as blood pressure as well as LDL cholesterol, and subsequently know their chance to have a heart attack or stroke in the next 10 years. The decision aid illustrates many treatment options, including losing weight and starting a statin, as well as the reduced risk that occurs by completing a specific treatment.

I am interviewing patients to generate feedback on the decision aid. Our research team desires the patient’s perspective on our first prototype, as the purpose of the system is to encourage shared decision-making. Patients’ comments are helping us continually improve the decision aid so it can be of the most use in a clinical setting.

Similarly, Varsa’s platform generates patient feedback in real time. Patients fill out a simple, validated survey, which then is immediately transmitted to a server where a provider can view the patients’ responses, stratified based on health status. One major challenge this approach helps to overcome is the lack of a continuous, usable timeline of the patient’s evolving health status. Because providers and health organizations have traditionally relied on pen and paper, forms would be filed into a folder or buried in an electronic medical record. The ability to quickly evaluate a change in health status; identify whether or not a treatment is effective; or analyze outcomes at a population health level; has been difficult and costly, if not impossible. Systems like Varsa change the current workflow for the benefit of all the healthcare stakeholders.

Ultimately, both my research this summer and Varsa’s platform focus on the important role of the patient in health care. Varsa hopes to not only enable doctors, nurses, and administrators provide and evaluate quality care, but also bring the patient’s perspective into their care.

Rathnam Venkat Varsa Health Summer Intern