Many organizations committed to including community members — health care providers, government agencies, and others — find it challenging to incorporate patient or community representatives into their work consistently and successfully.

Including the Patient Voice is a new resource from the Betsy Lehman Center that helps health care organizations involve members of the public in their work and advisory groups including:

• expert panels, 
• quality improvement committees,
• task forces, and
• Patient and Family Advisory Councils.

The Six Essential Elements laid out in the guide were gleaned from a number of reputable sources, as well as from recent experiences by the Betsy Lehman Center. It includes advice on how to overcome common challenges, from gaining leadership support to recruiting advisors and keeping them engaged.

The guide also includes helpful tools and resources from the American Hospital Association, Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Consumers United for Evidenced-Based Healthcare and more. Download a PDF of the guide here, or access the it online.