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Partnering with Patients and Families... Recommendations and Promising Practices

The Institute for Family-Centered Care is delighted to announce the release of Partnering with Patients and Families to Design a Patient- and Family-Centered Health Care System: Recommendations and Promising Practices.

This publication, with funding support from the California HealthCare Foundation, is based on the deliberations and key recommendations that emerged from a unique meeting convened by the Institute for Family-Centered Care in collaboration with the Institute for Healthcare Improvement and funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Highlighted are examples of best practices drawn from hospitals, ambulatory programs, medical and nursing schools, funders of health care, patient- and family-led organizations, and other health care entities. These organizations are making exemplary progress in partnering with patients and families to enhance quality and safety and to improve the experience of care. (For more information on the meeting, see Partnering with Patients and Families... A Roadmap for the Future, listed below.)

Advancing the Practice of Patient- and Family-Centered Ambulatory Care: How to Get Started...

What is patient- and family-centered ambulatory care? Why does it matter? How does it fit with our overall mission? And finally, what can our practice or organization do to advance the practice of patient- and family-centered care? Where do we start? Advancing the Practice of Patient- and Family-Centered Ambulatory Care: How to Get Started... was developed to provide answers to these questions.

Advancing the Practice of Patient- and Family-Centered Ambulatory Care: How to Get Started...

Advancing the Practice of Patient- and Family-Centered Care: How to Get Started...

The Institute for Family-Centered Care is pleased to offer guidance for how to get started in advancing the practice of patient- and family-centered care and in creating effective partnerships with patients and families with this new publication, Advancing the Practice of Patient- and Family-Centered Care: How to Get Started...

Advancing the Practice of Patient- and Family-Centered Care: How to Get Started...

Partnering with Patients and Families... A Roadmap for the Future

"Fixing" the problems that plague health care in the United States, most experts now agree, demands system-wide solutions. With support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the Institute for Family-Centered Care collaborated with the Institute for HealthCare Improvement and convened an invitational expert panel to respond to this briefing paper on patient and family partnerships in quality improvement and health care redesign.

Partnering with Patients and Families to Design a Patient- and Family-Centered Health Care System: A Roadmap for the Future

HIPAA-Providing New Opportunities for Collaboration

The Federal law, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), requires confidentiality of medical records and other individually identifiable health information. The Institute of Medicine (IOM) publication, Crossing the Quality Chasm: A New Health Care System for the 21st Century, states that health care must be patient-centered and sets forth several "rules to redesign and improve care," including "shared knowledge and the free flow of information." Can health providers comply with HIPAA while following the IOM recommendations? How can hospitals and health care organizations strike a balance between engaging patients and families in planning care and decision-making-which requires the sharing of information to assure safety and quality of care-while safeguarding patient confidentiality? The free download HIPAA-Providing New Opportunities for Collaboration addresses these questions and more.

HIPAA-Providing New Opportunities for Collaboration

This article is one of many included in the issue of Advances in Family-Centered Care linked below. The entire issue, Responding to HIPAA: Hospitals Confront New Challenges, Devise Creative Solutions, may be purchased from the Institute's website at:

Responding to HIPAA: Hospitals Confront New Challenges, Devise Creative Solutions

Strategies for Leadership

The American Hospital Association partnered with the Institute to produce the Strategies for Leadership: Patient- and Family-Centered Care toolkit. This resource was distributed to the CEO of every U.S. hospital in the fall of 2004. It contains a video and companion discussion guide, a resource guide and a self-assessment tool for hospitals. The entire toolkit can be downloaded from the AHA website.

Patient- and Family-Centered Care: A Hospital Self-Assessment Inventory
Strategies for Leadership: Patient- and Family-Centered Care

Tools to Foster the Collaboration with Patient and Family Advisors

A Checklist for Attitudes About Patients and Families as Advisors
A Patient and Family Advisory Council Workplan: Getting Started
Applying Patient and Family-Centered Concepts to Bedside Rounds
Creating Advisory Councils
Patient and Family Leaders in Paid Positions: Common Challenges-Effective Solutions
Presentations by Patients and Families: Staff Liaison Coordination and Preparation Roles
Sharing Your Story: Tips for Patients and Families
Tips for Group Leaders on Involving Patients and Families on Committees and Task Forces
Tips for Recruiting Patients and Families to Serve in Advisory Roles

Other Tools to Foster the Practice of Patient- and Family-Centered Care

Advancing the Practice of Patient- and Family-Centered Care: How to Get Started...
Are Families Considered Visitors in Our Hospital or Unit: A Checklist
Magic Wand Exercise
Patient- and Family-Centered Care: What's in it for Me?
NEW! Patients and Families as Advisors in Primary Care: Broadening Our Vision
Sharing Personal and Professional Stories
Wearing New Glasses

Tools to Assist in Designing Supportive Health Care Environments

Conducting Site Visits for Design Planning
Design Planning... Key Priorities
Patients and Families as Advisors in Design Planning