American Academy of Family Physicians Foundation

Practice Enhancement Forum: Quality improvement initiative to enhance patient care

The Practice Enhancement Program is a quality improvement initiative developed to enhance patient access care by providing family physicians with education and hands-on assistance. It was created in response to research conducted by the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) indicating the need and interest of family physicians to improve patient care. The program led teams of physicians, nurses or medical assistants and front-office staff through pre-course work, a two-day course and a quality improvement project to assess their current office systems, identify opportunities for improvement and address challenges. Funding from The Physicians Foundation was instrumental in helping the AAFP implement and administer the program to 18 additional states, reaching approximately 250 family medicine teams across the nation. The AAFP is committed to expanding the program on a broader scale that will allow continued interaction with family medicine teams and access to supportive tools and resources, including online learning sessions and communities and quality improvement follow-up with local QI coaches.