Patient advisory groups in practice improvement: sample case presentation with a discussion of best practices.

Using patient advisory groups can affect practice changes and create a patient-centric focus for a primary care practice. A successful patient advisory group has been developed for our primary care clinics. Utilizing this group, we have implemented practice improvement changes that have had a significant impact in patient care. This will be demonstrated in a case presentation involving the implementation of depression care managers at our practice sites. We will review key "best practices," as defined by the group, regarding size, composition, and meeting frequency that can be used for the development of a clinical patient advisory group.