Engagement Opportunities
Tell us about yourself – take the PFANetwork Advisor Interest Survey!
As interest and participation in the PFANetwork continues to grow, we are developing a registry to improve our ability to make connections for you to one another for support and to engagement opportunities. The more we understand your Advisory activities, priorities, and interests, the more we can support your efforts. Please contact Lindsey with questions at Lindsey@pfccpartners.com.
Click Here to take the Advisor Interest Survey!
PFA Summit Workgroup Update
- Change the Patient Family vs. Doctor Narrative: The goal for this workgroup is to have patients and doctors on the co-designing the Patient/Doctor encounter. Action items include collecting data about difficult conversations to develop evaluation questions for each doctor visit.
- Patient Access: The goal is for patients to have access to their complete records on a patient portal without permission from healthcare professionals. Action steps including research systems, defining HIPPA, clarifying policy, and co-design shared understanding.
- Develop National PFAC Connections: The goal for this group is to create business plans and tie patient family engagement to research. Outcomes will include a structure to connect PFAs between organizations across the country and continuum of care into a functioning, self-governed/funded national PFAC.
- Improved Communication Training in Medical Education: The goal here is to train patient (Advisors) and staff through an evidence based program to incorporate PFCC into medical education. Outcomes will include healthier patients, cost reduction, and fewer readmissions.
- Qualitative: The goal of this workgroup is to develop a plan for collecting, analyzing, and disseminating qualitative data from patients connected to specific issues as lessons for clinicians.
Nominations for the Gustav O. Lienhard Award
Choosing Wisely Patient Champions
Compassion in Action Healthcare Conference
Vanguard Award
2017 National Compassionate Caregiver of the Year Award
Quality Improvement Basics for Advisors
- Understand organizational culture and change processes
- Practice a variety of process improvement methods including Lean, Six Sigma, and Root Cause Analysis
- Learn how data is used for improvement (understanding Run Charts, Control Charts)
- Understand the role of patients and families in quality improvement
- Learn how to prepare for partnership on process improvement teams to have the greatest impact

Patient Safety Movement Foundation
Would you like to get involved with PCORI as a member of an advisory panel?
Applications for the Advisory Panel on Patient Engagement are now being accepted. They are looking for some great candidates from the following stakeholder groups to fill 6 spots:
– Industry
– Patients, Caregivers, and Patient Advocates
– Researchers
– Purchasers
– Payers
Open Applications Page – Third-party nominations and applications deadlines are Friday, March 31, by 5:00 p.m. (ET).
Georgetown University National Center for Cultural Competence
Johns Hopkins Medicine – THRIVE Study
Parents, Patients & Family Members invited to contribute!
http://www.aappublications.org/content/pediatrics-author-guidelines#family_partnerships
Pediatrics is interested in publishing articles that reflect the joint perspective of patients, families, and the health care professionals taking care of the family and child. These articles should be written collaboratively and reflect their shared thoughts about a topic related to children’s health care. Examples of topics that articles could address include shared decision-making, use of the Internet or other technologies to improve care, family-centered rounds, health care disparities, or issues related to medical education. These are just examples; the Executive Editorial Board would be willing to consider any relevant manuscript as long as it represents the voices of patients/families and healthcare providers. The manuscript should reflect a partnership amongst the authors.
If an individual patient’s story is to be shared as a narrative, the article should not just focus on that patient’s story and what went right or wrong, but reflect a broad perspective so that the lessons learned can be generalizable to others. The audience for these articles will primarily be health care professionals, but these articles will also be made free to the public so everyone can potentially benefit from reading the manuscript.
Specific points to consider: It would be acceptable for authors to write sections individually from their unique viewpoint. The article should contain a jointly written introduction and conclusion to ensure an overall collaborative voice.
Specific questions may be directed to Lewis First, MD, editor in chief of Pediatrics at lewis.first@uvm.edu.
Strategic Innovation Engine
Are you working to transform health care? CMS’ Quality Improvement Organization (QIO) program recently established the Strategic Innovation Engine (SIE) to advance health care quality. Its mission is to identify, evaluate and spread proven innovations to achieve the three-part aim of better care, healthier people/communities, and smarter spending.
If your organization has created or adapted an innovative practice in any of these five topics that has improved patient care, the SIE wants to hear from you.
- Managing multiple chronic conditions
- Engaging patients and families as active members of the care team
- Coordinating care within and across settings
- Streamlining patient flow
- Integrating behavioral health into care
Submit an application for consideration of your practice to be spread within the health care community. You’ll receive public recognition for the work you’ve done and broad dissemination of your practice through SIE Communications channels to foster spread throughout the health care community. We will brand the practice with the organization’s name and provide a web badge acknowledging its selection as an SIE-approved practice. Learn more here
Patient-Centered Primary Care Collaborative – Online Map Help
Patient-Centered Primary Care Collaborative (PCPCC) is a Support and Alignment Network (SAN) in a national program funded by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), called the Transforming Clinical Practices Initiative(TCPI). PCPCC is working collaboratively to support practice improvement teams in ambulatory care/outpatient settings to foster partnerships with patients, family caregivers and community-based organizations to achieve common goals of improved care and better health.
PCPCC is looking for patients and families who are interested in sharing their experiences in partnering with clinicians to improve care with others who want to do this work (could include work in hospital or outpatient settings), mentoring new patient/family partners who want to get involved, and participating in educational events – both as learners and speakers.
PCPCC is also launching an online map fairly soon and would love to get your input on the information they’re tracking and how user friendly it is. You can access the map here.
100 Million Healthier Lives
100 Million Healthier Lives is an unprecedented collaboration of change agents across sectors who are pursuing an unprecedented result:
Mission: 100 million people living healthier lives by 2020.
For more information on the 100MHL project and how you can get involved, check out their website: www.100mlives.org and their HealthDoers Community.
Are you a Medicare Beneficiary with an interest in serving as a Beneficiary Family Advisor?
The Quality Improvement Network- Organization (QIN-QIO) are seeking Regional Representatives to partner in co designing programs and projects to improve care for all medicare beneficiaries. To receive an application, please send a request to Stephen@pfccpartners.com or connect directly with the QIN QIO serving the state you live in. Learn more about the QIN-QIOs
Do you live in Virginia or Maryland?
VHQC, the Quality Improvement Network for Virginia and Maryland is currently recruiting Advisors to launch their Patient Family Council. If you are interested, please see the flyer below, which includes a link to the application.
To become a member of the PFANetwork, please fill out the information below:
What and where is the LEAPT event? The CMS website is unclear.