In the Baldrige Health Care Criteria for Performance Excellence, category three, concerning customer focus, asks how your organization engages its patients and other customers for long-term market­place success. The related self-assessment questions cover how your organization listens to the voice of the customer, builds relationships with patients and other customers, and uses patient and other customer information to improve and identify opportunities for innovation.

As the U.S. healthcare system undergoes major changes, what are some effective practices for engaging patients in new and challenging contexts?

I recently spoke with a Baldrige examiner who responded to that question by drawing on both her professional expertise in business management and her personal experiences as the mother of a patient navigating the healthcare system for multiple surgeries.

 …