This extensive collection of 28 essays written by over 40 leading health care professionals in the United States provides both theoretical and practical approaches to improving the quality of partnership skills practiced within the health system, and whether at the level of patient and clinician or of insurers and government - without a commitment to partnership and the knowledge and skills to make it happen. Using theoretical models and a wide variety of specific examples from clinical,educational and administrative settings, the authors show how the partnership process can be guided by core values of respect, honesty, compassion, and accountability.