Book excerpt: Moves beyond traditional definitions of patient-centered care to improve the experience of a "real person" as patient How might the entire system for producing, delivering, and paying for health care be changed so that real people fare better than they currently do? This text applies "person-focused" principles to health management decision-making aimed at improving the personal experience of care within health care institutions to improve outcomes and cost savings. Written and edited by distinguished educators and researchers with decades of health care policy experience, the text examines how health care managers can initiate and direct the process of system transformation by understanding and using a greater "person-focus" in their decision-making. It encompasses the key domains of management competencies defined by the AUPHA, CAHME, and NCHL. The text brings together experts across a variety of health care management disciplines to examine how managerial decisions affect the personal experience of patient care. It is based on observations that many of the current problems facing health care managers are caused by lack of attention to what happens when real people are transformed into "patients" and treated routinely by the US health care system. Moving beyond traditional definitions of patient-centered care, the book explores how our entire system for producing, delivering, and paying for care can be changed so that the internal experience of people receiving care is a positive one. The book helps to develop specific rules for improving the experience of care through better managerial decision-making. Case studies with discussion questions facilitate creative problem solving based on sound decision-making. Also included are extensive links to online content along with an Instructor's Manual, PowerPoint slides and more. Key Features: Describes how the person-focused model leads to better outcomes Discusses the impact of management decisions on the personal experience of clinical care Addresses the personal and clinical problems created through our current system's standard health care delivery and financing Applies basic principles of management decision-making to key operational issues to improve the personal experience of care Fulfills key learning competencies defined by AUPHA, CAHME, and NCHL