How warmth, competence, and relationships shape our healthcare outcomes

The Human Remedy: Why Our Relationships Matter as Much as Medicine reveals why better healthcare depends on more than medical knowledge, advanced technology, and efficient access to care. Drawing on original research with nearly 1.6 million patients and care providers, Chris Malone, founder of Fidelum Group and co-author of The HUMAN Brand, shows how our spontaneous social judgments of warmth and competence shape the way we experience care, receive advice, follow treatment plans, and build lasting relationships with care providers.

Malone explains how we unconsciously judge healthcare interactions by asking two unspoken questions: What are your intentions toward me? And are you capable of carrying out those intentions? When the answer to both questions is favorable, care can create hope, belonging, engagement, and stronger relationships. When warmth is missing, even technically excellent care can feel cold, transactional, and harder to trust.

The book also introduces the CareStyles™ patient engagement framework, which explains four distinct styles patients have for engaging with care providers. Through stories, research, and case examples from healthcare innovators, Malone shows how patients, care providers, and healthcare leaders can make care more human, relational, and effective.

Readers will also find:

• Case studies from Mayo Clinic, Kaiser Permanente, Northwell Health and others on how relationship-centered care improves patient engagement and outcomes
• A timely look at how AI could either deepen transactional care or help restore relationship-centered care
• A practical explanation of the four care engagement styles and the impact they have on the care we receive
• Access to the CareStyles™ Assessment that enables readers to discover their own care engagement style
• Actionable steps patients can take to seek and receive more relational care that better aligns with their engagement style

Written for patients, families, care providers, and healthcare leaders seeking evidence-based solutions, The Human Remedy offers a research-grounded path toward care that heals through relationships as well as medicine.