In a healthcare system that has many excellent features as well as serious defects, one participant is often overlooked: you, the consumer of health care. Your voice is not always heard. Your opinions are not often asked. You are the center of health care in America – but not always central to the care process.

This is now changing. More and more doctors and policy-makers now understand that people like you can play a transformational role in improving the effectiveness of the health care system and, as a consequence, restoring the health of our economy.

CarePartners Plus moves this idea one giant leap forward. We designed a new approach that actually encourages you to participate in your care as a true partner. Our integrated program – called Wellby™ – helps you shape your medical care, evaluate the care you get, and benefit from information and guidance tools that help you take charge of your health. This is the consumers’ system – one that protects your preferences, respects your values and provides you with an impartial mechanism to voice your perspectives.

The Wellby program starts with simple things like having your doctor ask you about your health goals. Do you want to control a chronic condition? Get fitter? Investigate a worrisome symptom? Your doctor asks you – and then works with you to develop a care plan. You and your doctor set goals that are within your control, and agree on a plan of action to meet these goals.

CarePartners Plus understands that different people learn in different ways, and knows that education doesn’t need to be complex or dull to carry an effective message. Wellby keeps things friendly and interesting so the learning takes hold. One exciting feature of Wellby is our touch-screen evaluation, the one with the little animated Wellby stethoscope. This brief survey lets you provide your opinion on how well you were treated during your doctor’s visit, what information you received about your future care, and how committed you are to following the plan to improve your health. This survey is your chance to evaluate your health care at the best time — right after your experience while the information is fresh in your mind — a first in the healthcare system!

The information you provide is extremely valuable to the doctor looking after you, since it immediately indicates how well your care plan is understood and being put into action – what’s working and what’s not. That information is also valuable to health insurance companies who are paying the doctor’s bills and who must ensure that high standards are being met. Finally, the information helps those who set healthcare policy to understand what’s working best and what’s not, so they can react to ineffectiveness more rapidly.

Wellby works as a win-win. You help to set your personal health goals. You provide feedback to the doctor and feedback about the doctor. You participate more actively and knowledgeably in taking charge of your health. And the giant U.S. healthcare system – with its wonderful qualities and its defects – improves because you and people like you transform your understanding of what to do to put better health into action.

That’s the shape of things to come – with your doctors communicating more fully and easily thanks to the new Wellby™ program – and you an active partner now at the center of the healthcare universe.

Find out more about Wellby and how it can empower you to take charge of your health and your health care.