Adding the Patient’s Voice to the Managed-Care Mix

One of the biggest problems with health care these days is that nobody seems to care what the patient thinks.

That’s how Ellen Severoni sees it, anyway.

“In any other business in the United States, the concept of what the customer wants would be taken to heart,” said the retired nurse who lives in South Laguna and is a member of the governor’s task force on improvements in managed care. “But in health care, that has been a struggle.”

Twelve years ago, Severoni co-founded the nonprofit California Health Decisions, whose mission is to involve the public in addressing legal, economic and ethical issues in health care.

Now, she said, her organization is working to add the patient’s voice to the usual mix of parties that negotiate behind closed doors over health insurance issues--the employers trying to hold down insurance costs, the health plans and the providers.

Last year, for instance, her organization completed a project in Orange for St. Joseph Health System, whose employees had expressed dissatisfaction over the way referrals to specialists were being handled by a health plan and medical group. As a result of patients’ input, she said, the health plan and providers allowed more patients with certain diagnoses to be automatically referred to specialists.

This summer, Severoni’s organization is attacking issues raised by employees of CalPERS, the state’s largest purchaser of health care.

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Barbara Marsh covers health care for The Times. She can be reached at (714) 966-7762 and at barbara.marsh@latimes.com