[Excerpt] The Cornell Institute for Healthy Futures (CIHF) sponsored a mini-symposium on April 12 and 13 that explored the shift toward a consumer-centered approach in healthcare. Nearly 100 industry experts, scholars, hospital and senior living administrators, physicians, nurses, architects, and students attended the conference at Cornell’s Statler Hotel. The symposium opened with a discussion of the current state of the patient experience and the barriers standing in the way of a patient-centered healthcare system. The conference then examined the needs of patients and the innovations healthcare facilities are developing to improve patient outcomes. It concluded with a look at the way technology is changing the delivery of care and how healthcare facilities are identifying different segments of the patient population to offer new levels of service in addressing their medical needs.