{"id":5788,"date":"2019-04-19T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2019-04-19T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lto.local\/articles\/making-informed-decisions\/"},"modified":"2026-02-11T21:20:10","modified_gmt":"2026-02-12T05:20:10","slug":"making-informed-decisions","status":"publish","type":"article","link":"https:\/\/www.testing.com\/articles\/making-informed-decisions\/","title":{"rendered":"Making Informed Decisions for Better Health"},"content":{"rendered":"

Everyone wants improved health care. On TV, in newspapers and magazines and, of course, on the Internet, we can find a vast amount of information about efforts being made to improve our care. As we listen and read, certain terms keep popping up – terms like health outcomes, evidence-based medicine (EBM), and patient-centered care.<\/p>\n

In this article, we offer explanations of these three key terms and their contributions to improving health care and, more specifically, healthcare as practiced through laboratory medicine. Together, these terms describe a range of care that you and your health practitioner may consider in making decisions about testing and treatment options. Understanding these terms, and their sometimes competing priorities, may help you to discuss your testing options with your health practitioner and make informed choices to improve your care.<\/p>\n

Read the sections below to review these concepts as well as how they play into making informed decisions about your or a loved one’s health care as well as additional resources.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This article provides explanations of three key terms, health outcomes, evidence-based medicine and patient-centered care and their contributions to improving healthcare and, more specifically, health care as practiced through laboratory medicine. Understanding these terms may help you to discuss your testing options with your healthcare practitioner and make informed choices to improve your care.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"menu_order":0,"template":"","tags":[],"keyword":[11161],"class_list":["post-5788","article","type-article","status-publish","hentry","keyword-featured"],"acf":{"city":"","state":""},"yoast_head":"\nMaking Informed Decisions for Better Health - Testing.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Learn about discussing your testing options with your health care provider to make informed choices to improve your care.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.testing.com\/articles\/making-informed-decisions\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Making Informed Decisions for Better Health - 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