Grants of $15,000 to California non-profit health facilities and services to take a systematic approach to incorporate the patient perspective and voice in improving health care delivery. Applicants are encouraged to attend the November 24 webinar to learn more. Assessments will be rooted in real-time, direct observation to understand exactly what patients and families experience while receiving care.

Experience-based co-design (EBCD) involves gathering experiences from patients and staff through in-depth interviews, observations and group discussions; identifying key 'touch points' (emotionally significant moments in the care experience); and incorporating patients and family directly in the improvement design process.

This approach builds upon the principles of human-centered design of empathizing with end-users and mapping the experience of care through the eyes of patients and families. EBCD has resulted in creating high performance care teams and deep, patient-centered culture change throughout many health care organizations.

CCI has partnered with The Patient & Family Centered Care Innovation Center (PFCC) to offer California clinics the opportunity to try this innovative technique. PFCC developed the Patient and Family Centered Care Methodology & Practice (PFCC M/P), a methodology built on the fundamental components of experience-based co-design that aims to shape the care experience in direct response to the needs and desires of patients and families. The goal of this program is to engage patients and families with cross-functional teams of care givers from all levels of the organization to co-design ideal care delivery.

In the six-step PFCC methodology, a core project team, referred to by PFCC as a Guiding Council, first meets to identify a specific episode of care to focus on by shadowing patients through their care experience. An episode of care is defined as any care experience in the ambulatory clinic which can be documented and improved, such as a visit with a patient with a chronic condition, a new patient visit, or an urgent care visit.

For this program, CCI and PFCC commit to do the following

-Host and facilitate the one-day VisionQuest workshop in Los Angeles or San Francisco Bay Area. To read more about the PFCC VisionQuest workshop, click here.

-Provide VisionQuest workshop materials and additional related resources.

-Host two introductory PFCC webinars prior to the VisionQuest workshop and six subsequent support webinars throughout the duration of the 10-month program.

-Offer additional coaching in project implementation, as needs arise.

Program Requirements:

-Designate 3-5 staff members to be part of the core project team. Core project team should consist of, at a minimum, an executive sponsor, a clinical champion, and a project manager.

-Send the members of its core team to the one-day PFCC VisionQuest workshop on March 13, 2015. This workshop will be held in the San Francisco Bay Area or Los Angeles. Project team members will also be expected to attend the introductory webinars on February 10 and February 26 prior to VisionQuest workshop, as well conduct the initial shadowing activity prior to attending the VisionQuest.

-Actively engage in the ongoing support webinars throughout the project to share experiences, lessons-learned and challenges.

-Implement a minimum of 3-5 improvement projects for the selected episode of care using the PFCC methodology.

-Measure the impact of the applied methodology through patient experience measures and other clinical and cost measures related to the selected episodes of care. Teams are also expected to participate in program evaluation activities including interviews and surveys.