New - AHRQ’s Primary Care Practice Facilitation Curriculum: An Expanded Resource for Workforce Development

New - AHRQ’s Primary Care Practice Facilitation Curriculum: An Expanded Resource for Workforce Development

AHRQ’s Primary Care Practice Facilitation Curriculum: An Expanded Resource for Workforce Development

The AHRQ Primary Care Practice Facilitation (PCPF) Curriculum is a new resource designed to help train practice facilitators, also called practice coaches, quality improvement coaches, or practice enhancement assistants on how to take an evidence-based approach to quality improvement in primary care practices.  This is the latest addition to the portfolio of AHRQ products that support the growth of practice facilitation. The PCPF Curriculum is organized into five parts: 

• Use of Adult Education Methods in Teaching PCPF Core Competencies
• Introduction to Practice Facilitation
• Competencies for Practice Facilitators
• In the Practice
• Implementing the Care Model and Patient-Centered Medical Home

“AHRQ created this resource to support development of the workforce needed to provide quality improvement assistance to primary care practices,” said David Meyers, M.D., Chief Medical Officer, AHRQ. “There are a growing number of state and national quality improvement initiatives focusing on primary care, which will increase the demand for trained practice facilitators. A great example of the timeliness of this curriculum is its use by some of the grantees in EvidenceNOW – an AHRQ initiative working with over 1500 primary care practices to advance heart health.”

The PCPF curriculum supports the education and training of practice facilitators, and can be used by organizations that want to build a practice facilitation capacity, including payers, independent practice associations, accountable care organizations, and advocacy groups. Designed to be used as a resource when preparing new and experienced facilitators to work with primary care practices, the curriculum can also provide an introduction to principles and techniques of clinical quality improvement that can be used to educate other health care professionals.  

Learn more about how to improve primary care by visiting AHRQ’s National Center for Excellence in Primary Care at:http://www.ahrq.gov/professionals/systems/primary-care/index.html.