Patients frequently describe the U.S. health care system as impersonal, corporate and fragmented. One study even called the care delivered to many vulnerable patients “inhumane.” Seismic changes caused by the COVID-19 pandemic – particularly the shift to telehealth – only exacerbated that feeling.
In response, many health systems now emphasize “relational medicine”: care that purports to center on the patient as a human being. Physician Ronald Epstein and health communication researcher Richard Street describe “patient-centered care” as advocating “deep respect for patients as unique living beings, and the obligation to care for them on their terms.”
