BUFFALO, N.Y. - Western New Yorkers had a chance to voice their opinions about the state of health care in the area, and what should be done about it.

Our health care system needs to be improved. We know the big picture statistics about diseases and outcomes, but how do the patients see it?

Shelley Hirshberg of the P2 Collaborative of WNY said, "We didn’t have the voice of people in our community in terms of what they wanted the health care system to look like. That was a missing piece."

Over the past two years, a campaign called "Reaching for Excellence" held 114 meetings and surveyed more than 1700 western New Yorkers.

Ann Monroe of the Community Health Foundation of Western and Central NY said, "From block clubs to board rooms, from community groups to church groups, young old, rural urban, and we really just listened."

They collected all the information and identified the people’s priorities.

Monroe said, "And the number one thing that emerged from those 114 meetings is that people are hungry for a human connection."

They want the kind of relationship that says they’re a person, not just a sore throat or a case of diabetes. Next on the list was, no surprise, we want fewer hassles.

Monroe said, "You shouldn’t have to complete that form 55 times; it ought to be pre-printed, and when you go in to the office, they ought to have all your test results."

The next thing to do is use all this information. And that’s happening all over the community.

Hirshberg said, "We work with people who provide the care, pay for the care, and receive the care. We have the three major regional health plans at the table as major partners. We are working with the 800 primary care physicians in the region. We’re working with all the hospitals."

The effort is so impressive, that it’s received millions of dollars of support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

Minna Jung of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation said, "Health reform is very big on the national agenda these days, and we really want to be able to point to these communities that are participating in alignment of forces and say, look, western New York did it."

If you want the details that were presented at Tuesday’s meeting, there’s a link to them below.

News 4’s Jacquie Walker asked, "One complaint I hear a lot is that doctor’s don’t seem to have enough time to spend with their patients. How can they fix that?"

Doctor Peter Ostrow said, "Doctors complain about that too. There might be ways to free up physician’s time, maybe with less paperwork. And we can use the time more efficiently if patients become more involved, more aware, more prepared with questions. We’ll look into how that might work."

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