Advisory Councils Transformed (ACT): Creating meaningful partnerships with patients, families, and communities
PFCCpartners will host a pre-conference session on creating meaningful partnerships with patients, families, and communities on Tuesday, October 14, from 12:30 - 4:30 pm. Patient and family engagement (PFE) is often championed as a priority in healthcare, yet organizations struggle to translate this vision into transformational, lasting impact. Many health systems, especially those in rural and primary care settings, have limited resources to sustain traditional Patient/Family Advisory Councils (PFACs). PFACs that do exist are often challenged to fully represent the diverse patient populations the organizations serve, and their impact limited by organizational structures that isolate their activities. This pre-conference session will introduce the Advisory Councils Transformed (ACT) Framework - a foundational approach to inclusive engagement, expanding impact, and person-centered transformation.
The ACT Framework better meets the needs of diverse lived-experience partners through inclusive lanes of engagement. These engagement pathways can integrate with existing PFAC infrastructure or be used as direct pathways for engagement without convening of a formal PFAC. The ACT Framework allows healthcare teams to use their engagement resources more efficiently and to expand the impact of their lived-experience partners by embedding their contributions more directly into improvement efforts. Most importantly, the ACT Framework establishes more inclusive pathways for collaborating with historically underrepresented voices.
Through facilitated brainstorming, strategic planning, hands-on activities, and interactive table discussion, participants will develop actionable strategies for engaging people with lived experience directly into healthcare improvement work. Join PFCCpartners to catalyze progress in patient/family engagement, one of the most influential drivers of health equity, policy change, and patient outcomes.
CEUs are available for this session.
Cost: Free to attend, registration is limited.
Date: Tuesday, October 14, 2025
Time: 12:30 - 4:30 pm PT