Welcome to the New NHC Blog: Putting Patients First

Welcome to the National Health Council Blog, Putting Patients First, where we’ll discuss trends, innovations, efforts, and challenges in patient-centered health care.

Here we will highlight NHC programs, breaking news, and events that demonstrate how critical the voice of the patient is in shaping the health care environment. We will post original items from the NHC and our member organizations. Now a little bit about who we are and what we do.

Who are we?
There are over 160 million Americans living with one or more chronic disease or disability. Our mission is to provide a united voice for them and their family caregivers. Our membership is made up of more than 125 diverse national health-related organizations and businesses, and core consists of the nation’s leading patient advocacy organizations.

At the NHC, we envision a society in which all people have access to quality health care that respects personal goals and aspirations and is designed around the patient experience to promote their best possible health outcomes.

Why does our work matter?

We are a patient-centered and forward-thinking organization focused on integrity, collaboration, and transparency among the diverse sectors of the health community.

The NHC is the only organization of its kind that harnesses the collective power of the patient community to confront systemic health care issues that affect all patients. The NHC helps to set the agenda for public policy and education initiatives that further a common goal of providing a united voice for people with chronic conditions and their family caregivers.

What do we do?

The NHC elevates the voice of the patient through our work in advocacy and capacity building for issues such as quality, value, and patient engagement in drug development. For example in 2017, the NHC provided members with tools to rally grassroots networks and publicly speak out against and successful stopped four Congressional attempts to repeal important patient protections in the Affordable Care Act (ACA).

We are currently working on comments for the FDA regarding their first draft guidance on patient-focused drug development. While the NHC and the entire patient community embrace the FDA’s forward-thinking efforts to engage patients early and often, there is still work to be done to improve the policy to be truly patient-focused.

We welcome feedback! Please email us at info@nhcouncil.org with any questions. We look forward to engaging with you.