Molly Mettler champions the power of the patient: “Consumers are the greatest untapped resource in health care. If we want to build a better health care system, we must first build a better patient.”
As a Senior Vice President for Healthwise, Mettler advocates for a transformation in the role of the health care consumer from a passive recipient to one who’s stronger, more active, and involved in his or her own care. A well-known speaker, Mettler explores topics critical to health care institutions, businesses, and government, including self-care, consumer issues, vital aging, doctor-patient communication, and information therapy. A key media resource, Mettler has been quoted in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and The Boston Globe and on NPR, among others.
Particularly passionate about health care for people age 50 and better, Mettler is past chair of the National Council on Aging (NCOA.) and continues to serve on its Board and Leadership Council. She was the founding chair for the NCOA’s Health Promotion Institute in 1990. That group honored her contributions by creating the “Molly Mettler Award” for leadership in health promotion. In 2006, Mettler was honored with the Geneva Mathiasen Award from NCOA for her major contributions.
Mettler serves on the National Advisory Board for the Practice Change Fellows Program, a two-year fellowship supporting health professionals in developing leadership skills and content expertise to positively influence care for older adults.
Mettler has written four books, including Healthwise® for Life, now in its seventh edition with more than four million copies in distribution. Her latest book, co-authored with Donald W. Kemper, is Information Therapy: Prescribed Information as a Reimbursable Medical Service.
Keenly interested in issues around workplace well-being, Mettler has been instrumental in the development of Healthwise’s much-admired corporate culture and progressive employment practices. With her colleagues, her efforts in this area have been nationally recognized: in 2007 The Wall Street Journal named Healthwise one of fifteen “Top Small Workplaces” in the country.
Ms. Mettler holds a B.A in Psychology from Antioch College and a M.S.W. from the University of Washington.
The Center for Advancing Health works to increase people's engagement in their health care.
All Americans act to fully benefit from their health care.
Work with policy makers, clinicians, and communities to more effectively support people's engagement in their health care.
Produce and disseminate research news stories that people can use to inform decisions about their health and health care.
Offer Be a Prepared Patient resources to help people find good health care and make the most of it.
Since it was founded in 1992, the Center for Advancing Health has aimed to increase people's engagement in their health and health care.
While advances in medical knowledge have been responsible for steady increases in the length and quality of life of Americans, the potential of health care to improve individual and population health in the future rests increasingly in the hands of individuals. Whether we are sick or well, we will not benefit from the expertise of health professionals and the technologies they deploy unless we participate actively and knowledgably in our own care. More