Lessons Learned from Leading Models of Practice Facilitation

Practice facilitation (PF) is one way to support medical practices in their ongoing efforts toward primary care redesign and transformation. PF services can be a national, regional, State, or locally organized resource. Health plans, Quality Improvement Organizations (QIOs), State health departments, Practice-Based Research Networks (PBRNs), Area Health Education Centers (AHECs), independent practice associations, and accountable care organizations are all potential providers of PF services to primary care practices. PF services, which are provided by trained individuals or teams, use a range of quality improvement (QI) approaches designed to build the internal capacity of a practice to attain both incremental and transformative QI goals. As practices are encouraged by purchasers to focus on quality and to pursue efforts such as patient-centered medical home (PCMH) transformation and electronic medical record (EMR) implementation, the use of PF services has grown rapidly, and numerous PF programs have emerged within the past few years.