Randall L. Carter, Planetree's Senior Vice President, has spoken and provided consultation on the topics of patient-centered care and experience, healing environments, service and leadership, quality and safety, and employee experience to healthcare organizations, physician groups, and audiences in building and design, retail, software, education, broadcasting, and government. For 25 years Mr. Carter has been instrumental in the application of Planetree’s patient and family-centered concepts in the United States and over the past decade in the cultures of the Netherlands, Iceland, Canada, and most recently, Japan, Brazil, and Saudi Arabia. Since our founding by a patient in 1978, Planetree has defined what it means to be patient and family-centered. Planetree’s philosophy is based on a simple premise: care should be organized first and foremost around the needs of patients. To understand those needs Planetree turned to the source. Thousands of focus groups—from bedside to boardroom—with patients, long-term care residents, families, communities and professional caregivers across the globe have borne out their needs and desires for a more personalized, humanized and demystified health care experience. Bringing these concepts to life requires a shift not merely in operations but fundamentally in culture. Planetree guides providers through a structured process that enables caregivers to transform the health care experience they provide. Today, Planetree provides consultation, training, resource support and collaborative community to over 700 organizations in 19 countries around the world.

• Portland State University