About UsSince its founding, the Partnership to Improve Patient Care (PIPC) has been at the forefront of applying principles of patient-centeredness to the nation’s health care system – from the generation of comparative clinical effectiveness research at the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI), to the translation of evidence into patient care in a manner that achieves value to the patient. Having driven the concepts of patient-centeredness and patient engagement in the conduct of research, PIPC looks forward to bringing the voices of patients and people with disabilities to the discussion of how to advance patient-centered principles throughout an evolving health care system.
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Our Priorities |
PIPC was established to advance principles of patient-centeredness in an evolving health system. To be truly patient-centered, patients and people with disabilities must be engaged partners. PIPC advocates for the voices of patients and people with disabilities to drive the research that forms the infrastructure for meaningful shared decision-making and improved health care decision-making. PIPC works to ensure patients are at the table with policymakers in the development, implementation and evaluation of alternative payment models that seek to advance value-based payment and delivery models in public programs such as Medicare. PIPC also recognizes the need to advance patient-centered models for the development of value frameworks and tools that are used to determine access to care in the private sector. Ultimately, our goal is to ensure that value in health care is defined as achieving outcomes that matter to patients.
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Mission Statement |
The mission of the PIPC is to advance the principles of patient-centeredness in an evolving healthcare system. We strive to raise awareness about the value of well-designed comparative clinical effectiveness research, the importance of shared decision-making between patients and providers that empowers truly patients to play a more active role in their own healthcare decisions, and the need to advance payment and delivery models that achieve outcomes that matter to patients.
PIPC members, representing a diverse, broad-based group of health care stakeholders, are dedicated to working together to promote giving a voice to patients, giving choice to patients, and advancing value for patients. We support comparative clinical effectiveness research that protects patient access to innovative treatment options; shared decision-making tools that enable patients, doctors, and other health care professionals to choose the care that best meets the individual needs of the patient; and a health system that fosters continued medical innovation. Comparative clinical effectiveness research should work for patients to improve their health decisions, not against them by limiting their access in a one-size-fits-all health system. Therefore, policies to advance value-based health care must mitigate against the misapplication of research in ways that restrict patient access to optimal care, undermine physician/patient shared decision-making, and discourage continued medical progress. |
Executive Director
Sara van Geertruyden counsels and manages PIPC, a diverse group of healthcare organizations representing patients, healthcare providers, researchers and innovators, and other groups to promote comparative effectiveness research that supports patient access, informed healthcare decision-making and continued medical progress. In this role, she is responsible for assuring that the voice of PIPC’s members is heard by those implementing CER programs, including PCORI. She came to PIPC as a healthcare and welfare policy expert with 20 years of experience. Previously, she worked for former Senator John Breaux from 1996-2003. In 2003, she joined the healthcare policy group at Patton Boggs LLP, and in 2011 she joined Thorn Run Partners. She received a BA from Wake Forest University and a JD from Catholic University.
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Deputy Director
Thayer Surette Roberts joined PIPC as its deputy director in March of 2019. In this role she works with PIPC’s diverse membership of patients, healthcare providers, researchers, and other groups to ensure that patient centricity is at the center of our nation’s health care system. Prior to joining PIPC, Thayer served as the Senior Director of Alliance Development at Research!America where she worked closely with the organization’s membership of patient advocacy organizations, academia, scientific societies, and industry to convene appropriate parties and to develop programs to advocate for a policy and regulatory climate that supports medical innovation. Thayer received a BA from Boston College.
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