Recruiting and Engaging Virtual Patient and Family Advisors for Rapid, Robust Feedback to Support a Large, Geographically Dispersed Clinical Practice.

A large clinical practice group sought to create a unique Patient and Family Advisory Council (PFAC) recruitment and engagement model to support shifts in advisor expectations and support a medical group spread out across a large geographic area by providing rapid, custom patient and family feedback for quality, safety, and experience improvement. Patients are actively recruited through an online, automated application process linked to our patient surveys. Within 6 months of automated recruitment, the PFAC grew to over 200 members representing all clinical specialties and a variety of patient demographics, skills, and experiences. Rapid patient feedback through PFACs has elevated the voice of patients in dozens of projects and within specialties that have not utilized patient feedback or engaged a traditional PFAC in the past. Patients who may not have participated in a traditional PFAC have shared their perspectives on a variety of topics not captured in traditional patient surveys. Underrepresented patient populations are engaging in virtual PFAC opportunities much more than traditional PFACs.