Patient and Family Engagement
With the shift in the health care landscape from volume to value, more hospitals are engaging patients in their everyday hospital activities. Like any profession, learning from the consumer can provide great insight on how to provide better service. Integrating patients, families and caregivers within the hospital setting is an excellent approach to gain insight from patients that can increase the quality of care delivered in a hospital.
Colorado Hospital Association (CHA) recognizes the value of patient and family engagement is dedicated to helping its members improve health care experiences. CHA also provides tools and resources to aid in establishing and maintaining patient family advisory councils.
Contact Information

Richard Bottner, DHA, PA-C, CPHQ
Vice President, Clinical Excellence
720.330.6067
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Grant Project
In 2018, CHA applied for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s “Building Trust and Mutual Respect to Improve Health Care” program and received funding to evaluate the role of hospital-based patient and family engagement strategies in building trust with rural communities. As part of this two-year project, CHA, in coordination with the University of Colorado Center for Bioethics and Humanities, administered the Communication Climate Assessment Tool (C-CAT) to six rural hospitals. CHA took the learnings from the six in-depth surveys it conducted with rural member hospitals and distilled them into this new toolkit, which can be implemented in any hospital statewide.
Resources
- Advancing the Practice of the Practice of Patient- and Family-Centered Care in Hospitals: How to Get Started
- AHRQ Guide to Patient and Family Engagement in Hospital Quality and Safety
- AIR Strategic Vision and Roadmap: Defining the Person and Family Engagement (PFE) Metrics for Improved Measurement: Purpose and Intention of the Five PFE Metrics
- CMS Partnership for Patients PFE Resources
- Partnership for Patients Community of Practice PFE Resources
- Partnership for Patients Community of Practice PFE Monthly Learning Event Materials
- Webinar – Beyond the Assessment: Communicating and Addressing Patient and Family Engagement and Health Equity Needs