PATIENTS RISING PRINCIPLES

State of the Patient

Healthcare in America too often serves systems and institutions before it serves patients.

Costs are unpredictable. Access to care can be delayed. Breakthrough treatments take too long to reach the people who need them most.

Patients Rising believes healthcare should work differently.

The healthcare system exists to serve patients.

These principles guide our work to build a system that puts patients first.

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OUR PRINCIPLES

Six Principles That Guide Our Work

These principles shape everything we do at Patients Rising—from policy engagement and patient advocacy training to storytelling, grassroots mobilization, and the issues we champion in Washington and the states.

They reflect a simple belief: healthcare should work for patients.

By focusing on patient choice, financial protection, responsible innovation, and transparent healthcare systems, these principles guide our work to ensure patients can access care that is affordable, timely, and effective.

Patients Come First

Judge every policy, payment, and decision by one standard: Does it improve outcomes, access, affordability, and the well-being of patients?

Patients Deserve Choice and Control

Patients should be empowered with meaningful choices and greater control over healthcare decisions, including providers, treatments, and insurance options.

Healthcare Should Protect Patients From Financial Harm

Health insurance should act as a true safety net: protecting patients and caregivers from catastrophic costs and debt, so no one skips care or loses everything because they got sick.

Financial Incentives Must Serve Patient Health

Align healthcare incentives to reward better outcomes, longer lives, and expanded access to care, so the system succeeds when patients do well.

Innovation Must Reach Patients

Breakthroughs in science, medicine, and technology are the best hope against devastating illness. Policies should ensure new treatments reach patients quickly, safely, and affordably.

Transparency and Accountability Strengthen Healthcare

Patients and taxpayers should see exactly where healthcare dollars go and what results they get so the system works for people, not against them.

Why Patient-Centered Principles Matter

Healthcare in America is shaped by complex systems, financial incentives, and institutions. Too often, those systems make it harder—not easier—for patients and families to get the care they need.

Patients Rising focuses on the underlying problems that drive those failures: rising out-of-pocket costs, limited choices, misaligned incentives, barriers to innovation, and a lack of transparency about how healthcare dollars are spent.

Our six principles define the healthcare system patients deserve—one where patients come first, families are protected from financial harm, innovation reaches those who need it, and healthcare systems are transparent and accountable.

These principles guide the policies we advance and the solutions we champion to build a healthcare system that works for patients.

FROM PRINCIPLES TO POLICY

Turning Principles Into Action

Principles matter most when they shape real decisions.

Patients Rising translates these principles into policy priorities that guide our advocacy at both the federal and state level. Working alongside patient advocates, policymakers, and healthcare leaders, we support reforms that reduce patient costs, expand access to care, encourage medical innovation, and strengthen accountability across the healthcare system.

Below are the key policy areas where we are working to turn patient-centered principles into real change.

How We Advance These Principles

We advance these principles through five core strategies:

Patient-led advocacy at the federal and state level
Leadership training for patient advocates through the LEAD program
Strategic patient storytelling that brings real experiences to policymakers at the right moment
Advocacy fly-ins that connect patients directly with lawmakers
Research and reporting on healthcare access and affordability through our website and in the media

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Stand With Patients Rising

These principles guide everything we do. Join Patients Rising and help advance policies that improve access, transparency, innovation, and accountability across the healthcare system.

If these principles resonate with you, we invite you to stand with us.

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