Fairlawn Rehabilitation Hospital has established a Patient and Family Advisory Council (PFAC) as set out in the hospital licensure regulation at 105 CMR 130.1800 & 1801.

The focus of the PFAC is to facilitate patient and family participation in hospital care and decision-making, information sharing, policy and program development to include the Institute for Family Centered Care core concepts of dignity and respect, information and sharing, participation and collaboration.

The hospital is utilizing the published guide on PFAC's developed by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), the Patient-Centered Care Improvement Guide developed by the Planetree Organization and the Picker Institute and the hospital regulations for licensure as resource materials.

The hospital recognized the established requirements for the development of a plan by September 30, 2009, the development of the council by October 1, 2010, the requirement for written annual reports beginning October 1, 2010 and the requirement to have the report publicly available through electronic or other means.

The PFAC plan was completed by September 30, 2009 as required. Some of the elements of the timeline were adjusted along the way during the implementation of the plan. An introductory meeting was held on June 23, 2010 to orient PFAC members. The PFAC plan, policy and procedure and appropriate forms were reviewed and discussed by the committee. Meeting guidelines were distributed to all members, and application forms and confidentiality statements were obtained. The committee will be meeting in the 4th quarter of 2010 in November.

The annual report was completed by the October 1, 2010 deadline as required. The PFAC plan, policy and annual report are available publicly via electronic means by contacting Paula Bigelow MS, RN, Director of Quality by email paula.bigelow@healthsouth.com or by calling 508-471-9425.