Person-Centered Engagement at the Organizational Level Change Package
Center for Consumer Engagement in Health Innovation Health Care Transformation Task Force
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Planning

Building a Planning Workgroup

The development of an engagement strategy requires the dedicated attention of a planning workgroup to lead the planning and report recommendations to health system leaders. This workgroup may include one or more lead staff members solely dedicated to engagement work or may be comprised of people sharing time between this effort and their existing role.

Pro Tip: Engagement From the Start

Organizations should not wait until their strategy is complete to connect with patients. Rather, engagement should begin in the planning phase by incorporating patients, family and community members into the planning team. Their perspectives are valuable additions that will inform the development of a more successful engagement strategy.

Key actions for building a planning workgroup

Self-Assessment Questions

On a scale of 1 to 5 (with 1 indicating “strongly disagree” and 5 indicating “strongly agree”), rate your organization’s performance on the following questions:

  • My organization has a clearly defined work group leading the planning efforts for patient and family engagement with representation from leadership, frontline staff and patients.
  • Our planning team is comprised of community members who reflect the diversity of the patients we care for and staff who represent both clinical and non-clinical touch points with patients.
  • Our planning team has a clear mission statement or charter that defines its goals.
  • Planning team meetings are scheduled around patient and family member availability, even if that means meeting outside our organization’s normal business hours.
  • The patient representatives are active participants on the planning team and their contributions have changed the direction of the group’s work.


Resources

  1. Foundational Materials
  2. Orientation and Training
  3. Additional Resources
The views expressed here do not necessarily reflect the views of the Foundation.

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