Improvements to the delivery of health care are being driven by a new group of critics, some with no medical training and very limited experience. They might not have the expertise, but their opinions carry more weight than ever in the U.S. health care industry. Patient perspectives are being assessed, implemented and evaluated like never before and not just because hospitals are trying to gain a competitive advantage or improve their bottom lines. Effort is being made to treat patients as people, not diagnoses, and to call them by their names, their nicknames or however else they might want to be called.
