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The Ozer Payton Nelson Method (OPN) is an evidenced-based patient-centered professional communication method that nearly all clinicians in a healthcare setting can incorporate into their practice and use with all their patients and their families. Created by a MD, a PT and an OT, this multidisciplinary approach to treatment planning begins the moment the clinician starts the encounter with the patient. The OPN Method oversees four areas of care and follows a sequence so that it can be applied to every patient, regardless of diagnosis. Its structured, cyclical format elicits information from the patient quickly and efficiently, without extending patient treatment time.

Its benefits also include making the goal-writing process easier for clinicians because not only is the goal tailored specifically for the patient but because the patient helped develop the goal with the clinician. Studies have shown that when patients and clinicians formulate goals together, the patient is far more likely to achieve those goals than if the clinician set the goals without the patient's input. Engaging the patient in goal setting provides relevant information to use in required areas of documentation and prevents denials of service. The OPN Method's collaborative goal writing process helps clinicians navigate a patient's unrealistic goals by guiding the clinician through a series of steps that reorients the patient to what his or her current status is without taking away the patient's hopes or dream.

The OPN Method emphasizes the collaborative nature of patient and clinician relationship by building a shared vision of the patient's treatment plan from beginning to end. The shared vision between patient and clinician is not exclusive to that particular clinician; it should be a communal vision of all clinicians involved in the patient's care. This also reduces variation in what the patient wants to accomplish when everyone on the medical team is privy to the information the patient provides. This leads to a more efficient and effective team of clinicians when they all employ the same set of communication skills.

The OPN Method also supports CMS regulations (Resident Rights) and The Joint Commission Standards (Patient Rights and Provision of Services). Register