Beneficiary and Family Centered Care Quality Improvement Organizations (BFCC-QIOs) handle all beneficiary complaints and quality of care reviews to improve health care services for Medicare beneficiaries. They also handle cases in which beneficiaries want to appeal a health care provider’s decision to discharge them from the hospital or discontinue other types of services.

BFCC-QIOs are working on Person and Family Engagement (PFE) projects aimed to encourage Medicare beneficiaries and their families to be more involved in their health care. BFCC-QIO PFE projects will:

  • Reflect beneficiary and family perspectives and needs
  • Provide opportunities for beneficiary engagement and education
  • Foster improved case review experiences for patients, their families, and health care providers
  • Encourage person-centered, strength-based care

BFCC-QIO Projects

BFCC-QIO PFE projects will be guided by the following principles:

Enhancing Patient Advocacy. BFCC-QIOs will support patients and their health care interests by developing and implementing Immediate Advocacy strategies to help Medicare beneficiaries, as well as their families and caregivers, improve chronic condition self-care.

Promoting Medicare Beneficiary and Family Engagement. BFCC-QIOs will work directly with beneficiaries, families, and caregivers to ensure that there is a clear pathway for including patient and family voices and experiences into the workflows and systems of health care provider organizations. To accomplish this, the BFCC-QIOs will collaborate with the BFCC-NCC’s Beneficiary and Family Advisory Council.

Generating System Improvements Targeting Patient Safety. BFCC-QIOs will work with practitioners and providers, patient advocates, Medicare beneficiaries and their families to cultivate and encourage innovative system improvements in order to make care safer.

Evaluating Measures and Improvement Targets. BFCC-QIOs will identify strategic goals, such as improvements in current work processes and will evaluate the effectiveness of their PFE interventions and outcomes.

Coordinating Care Management and Improvement. BFCC-QIOs will help beneficiaries navigate the often challenging health care arena coordinating beneficiary care, connecting beneficiaries and caregivers with resources, and providing beneficiary support in understanding the health care system.