Patient-centered care is respectful and responsive to individual patient preferences, needs, and values. A precondition for patient-centered care is patient engagement. Patient engagement is the combination of patient activation (having the confidence and knowledge necessary to take action in maintaining and improving one’s health) and interventions/tools designed to promote activation and positive health behaviors. Activated, engaged patients are more likely to engage in preventive behavior (check-ups, screenings, etc.), engage in healthy behavior (healthy diet, regular exercise), avoid health-damaging behavior (smoking and illegal drug use), as well as incur less costs.