Joe D Planetree

What does it mean to be a “Planetree Designated® Person-Centered Organization?”

“Since opening our doors in 1992, we have been focused and committed to the care of our patients and families. Our philosophy of patient- and family-centered care means that families and healthcare professionals are true partners working together to serve the best interest of the patient,” said Chantal Leconte, Administrator and Chief Executive Officer of Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital.

Planetree, Inc. knows this too well, and recently designated Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital in Hollywood, Florida as the first and only children’s hospital in the world to achieve such an honor. This provides the children’s hospital a unique commendation for the compassion and care provided to patients beyond the clinical treatment and places them in a distinguished network of only 86 other healthcare organizations worldwide with the same designation.

The Planetree Designation is the only award that recognizes excellence in person-centeredness across the continuum of care,” said Susan Frampton, President of Planetree, Inc., an international not-for-profit organization that has been at the forefront of the movement to transform healthcare from the perspective of the patient for nearly 40 years. “The designation signals to healthcare consumers that Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital is an organization where providers partner with patients and families, and where patient and family comfort, dignity, empowerment and well-being are prioritized with providing top-quality clinical care.”

The criteria that an organization must satisfy to achieve designation reflect what patients, family members and healthcare professionals in hundreds of focus groups say matters most to them during a healthcare experience.  More than 60 specific criteria address components of a person-centered healthcare experience, including patient-provider interactions, access to information, family involvement, the physical environment, food and nutrition, spirituality, arts and entertainment, and integrative therapies.

In addition, the criteria focus on how the organization is supporting its staff, opportunities for staff, patients, and families to have a voice in the way care is delivered, and the ways that the organization is reaching beyond its walls to care for its community.

All designation determinations are made by an independent committee of international healthcare experts and CEOs from previously designated organizations.

Founded in 1978 by a patient in San Francisco, today Planetree is an internationally recognized leader in the growing movement to transform the health care experience by considering health care facilities, processes and protocols from the perspective of the patient.

In diverse healthcare settings throughout the United States, Canada, Latin America, Asia and Europe, Planetree is demonstrating that patient-centered care is not only an empowering philosophy, but a viable, vital, and cost-effective model of care.

Today, the Planetree membership network is a global community of more than 250 acute care hospitals, continuing care facilities, outpatient clinics, and consumer health libraries. The Planetree model is implemented in a variety of settings, ranging from 25-bed critical access hospitals to large urban medical centers with more than 2,000 beds.