Why Is It Important to Know Your Health Care Options?
King County is teaming with the nonprofit Puget Sound Health Alliance to present Own Your Health, a campaign to empower consumers to become active participants in their own health and health care.
Picture a giant clothing store with just one shirt. Or a grocery store that only sells bananas. Sure, you might luck out and love the one thing that store offers, but you won’t be back.
With most things in our life, we expect options. Health care should be no exception. You have a choice when it comes to selecting your primary care doctor. And once you have your health care team in place, you can still make choices about the best prevention, care and treatment options for you.
One of the most important things you can do to make sure you are getting high-quality health care is to learn about the best treatments for any health conditions you face. Each patient is different, but scientific research has shown that some types of care tend to get better results than others. When you know there is medical evidence that certain care works best for a particular condition, you owe it to yourself to talk to your doctor about it.
It’s called “evidence-based medicine,” and it’s what everyone should experience. You know you’re receiving it if you and your health care team are considering the latest evidence of what has been proven to work best when thinking about treatment options. Along with considering your own unique circumstances and preferences, evidence is very important when you’re deciding how to treat a chronic health condition like diabetes or heart disease. It’s also important for preventive care, like deciding how often to come in for a physical exam, or what tests are appropriate based on your age, sex, and family history.
You’ll want to consider the benefits and risks of each treatment option, and find out how much experience your doctor has in treating your condition using the treatment option you choose. When you’re making a decision about your health, think about your values and goals for your health, any challenges you may have, and the support you’ll need when choosing a specific treatment.
The more you engage with your own health care, the more options you’ll find you have. Having multiple treatment options can feel overwhelming, but it’s a good thing. It may be tempting to just go with the most familiar option, but that might not turn out to be the best fit. Instead, work with your health care team to find the treatment option evidence shows works best, and the option that works best for you.
Your health care team is a key resource in learning about your options, but not the only resource available.
In the Own Your Health survey, we asked King County employees how much they agreed with the following statement: “I feel that I know where to go for information about the most effective treatment options.”
Here’s how over 1,900 King County employees answered:
- Strongly Agree: 18%
- Agree: 40%
- Neutral: 32%
- Disagree: 8%
- Strongly Disagree: 2%
That means 42% of all respondents neither agree nor strongly agree they know where to go for that information. So here are some resources for you to use to help you talk to your doctor about your options:
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Cochrane Reviews
(www.cochrane.org/cochrane-reviews) shares independent reviews of health care research that can help you make decisions with your doctor. This site will help you get the full picture on a topic, not just the latest headline. Information about options can get technical, but it’s still information you have a right to know. If you learn anything that isn’t clear to you, your doctor is the best person to talk to about it.
To learn about health conditions, try these resources:
Your local library can also be an excellent resource. Some doctors will encourage patients to research a certain topic. If your doctor doesn’t give you this kind of homework, you can always ask him or her to give you some. Your doctor will be happy you want to get informed.
Why does all this matter? It’s all about improving your health, the care you receive, and your quality of life. When you are armed with information about your options, and the medical evidence to support the options, you can make an informed decision about what is right for you. If your family, friends and coworkers take the same approach, the whole community benefits.
Visit the
Own Your Health
website for all the resources above, plus more, including “How to Find Trustworthy Health Information on the Internet” and “Nine Things You Can Do to Get Better Care.”
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