UROP Project

Co-production, PFACs, hospital, performance management

Research Mentor: jc21bg@fsu.edu Jinyoung Cha,
Department, College, Affiliation: Askew School of Public Administration and Policy, Social Sciences and Public Policy
Contact Email: jc21bg@fsu.edu
Research Assistant Supervisor (if different from mentor):
Research Assistant Supervisor Email:
Faculty Collaborators:
Faculty Collaborators Email:

Looking for Research Assistants: No
Number of Research Assistants: 2
Relevant Majors: Open to all majors, but prefer students from all social science majors, statistics, or public health.
Project Location: On FSU Main Campus
Research Assistant Transportation Required: No, the project is remote
Remote or In-person: Fully Remote
Approximate Weekly Hours: 4-7,
Roundtable Times and Zoom Link: Not participating in the Roundtable

Project Description

Co-production has become a critical concept in both public administration and healthcare. In public administration, co-production is seen as an effective strategy to enhance service delivery and address the complex needs of citizens. Similarly, patient-centered care emphasizes the co-production of health services among hospitals, professionals, and patients in the healthcare sector. In this respect, it becomes essential to understand the motivation and outcomes of co-production. Despite the growing body of literature addressing co-production's motivations and anticipated outcomes, it remains underexplored. To fill this gap, this study aims to bridge the gap by offering a comprehensive understanding of the factors associated with co-production initiatives and examining how these factors can enhance organizational performance.
In particular, this study focuses on the co-production in the healthcare sector: Patient and Family Advisory Councils (PFACs). PFACs refer to a formal advisory group established within hospitals to include patients, families, and citizens in the decision-making process. It aims to integrate their perspectives into healthcare practices, policies, and quality improvements. PFACs involve various stages of hospital decision-making, including planning, designing, education and training, service delivery, and evaluation and feedback.
In 2008, Massachusetts enacted legislation requiring all acute care and rehabili©tation hospitals to establish a Patient and Family A©dvisory Council (PFAC). This mandate remains unique in the U.S. The legislation stipulates that each hospital must publicly report PFAC activities publicly. Currently, the Besty Lehman Center manages and collects annual reports from all Massachusetts hospitals, making them accessible to the public.
Thus, using these annual reports of Massachusetts hospitals, this study aims to analyze key determinants of PFAC improvement, including financial, human resource, community, or any other institutional settings. In addition, this study will investigate how these factors are associated with PFAC’s outcomes to improve patient care and experience.


Research Tasks: Student research assistants will help with several tasks, including literature review, data collection, and analysis.
1. They will collect, code, and analyze data from the Massachusetts hospital's PFAC report to identify critical determinants of PFACs and their potential outcomes through a quantitative and qualitative approach.
2. If possible, they will read relevant documents and journal articles to analyze how scholarships view the role of PFACs and their outcomes.
3. If time permits, they will help analyze the data collected and interpret its results.

Skills that research assistant(s) may need: 1. Microsoft Office Software (e.g., Word, Excel, Powerpoint)
2. Literature review of academic journals
3. Data coding and analysis (e.g., Excel, Stata, or R)