With generous support from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), the North American Primary Care Research Group (NAPCRG) hosted 2 conferences crucial to advancing primary care research: the Practice-based Research Network (PBRN) Conference and the International Conference on Practice Facilitation (ICPF).

The annual PBRN Conference convened in Bethesda, Maryland from May 31 to June 1, 2023. A total of 131 participants attended. The conference theme and sessions were curated by the PBRN Conference Committee, consisting of 13 leaders from PBRNs in the United States and Canada and a patient advisor.

The conference featured 2 plenary sessions, 5 interactive workshop sessions, 33 oral presentations, and 36 poster presentations. Sessions were organized around 5 key themes: behavioral health/substance use disorder, practice facilitation/quality improvement, PBRN infrastructure, dissemination and implementation, chronic care management, and outstanding presentations.

On the first day, the plenary session titled “Practice-Based Research (and Learning) Networks in Primary Care: Opportunities for Partnership and Pragmatic Clinical Trials” was presented by Sabrina Wong, Scientific Director of the National Institute of Nursing Research. The second day included the plenary session “Building a Network for Community-Engaged Primary Care Research” led by Erika Cottrell, Anne Gagiotti, Anna Templeton, and Denita T. Walson.

The conference concluded with the 5 outstanding oral presentations, followed by a facilitated discussion led by Sebastian Tong, MD, MPH. These exceptional presentations were also showcased at the NAPCRG Annual Conference during a special session presented by Alexander Singer. Finally, the award for the best poster, as selected by the attendees, was presented to Elizabeth Staton for their poster “Dissemination With Story Maps: Creating an Interactive Website to Share Images, Videos, and Audio From Our Community Partners.”

We conducted a comprehensive post-conference evaluation; 77 (59%) of attendees provided feedback; 91% of respondents rated the overall conference as excellent or very good; 89% reported acquiring new skills to overcome PBRN operational challenges; 91% reported learning skills that would increase their ability to positively impact health policy or practice.

The NAPCRG PBRN Conference serves as a vital platform for PBRN researchers, clinicians, and community members to exchange knowledge and skills, ultimately enhancing PBRN research and advancing the AHRQ’s mission to create evidence for safer, higher quality, more accessible, equitable, and affordable health care.

The ICPF convened its sixth meeting in Portland, OR August 29-30, 2023. 79 individuals from the United Stats and Canada attended, representing academic institutions, area health education centers, health plans, health systems, primary care, quality improvement networks/quality improvement organizations, and other research organizations. The conference was co-chaired by Drs Zsolt Nagykaldi and Melinda Davis.

The ICPF seeks to support and foster a practice facilitation learning community through collaborative knowledge, resource sharing, and advancing practice facilitation science and best practices. With the changing health care landscape and practice facilitation’s evolving role, ICPF 2023’s timely theme was “Evolving Facilitation Across Diverse Environments: Spanning the Boundary Between People, Practice, and Policy.” The program built on insights from prior meetings between 2017 and 20221-5 with peer-reviewed abstracts for oral presentations, skill labs, workshops and posters and featured 4 invited sessions: 2 plenary talks, 1 skill lab, and a World Café. Consistent with prior meetings, ICPF 2023 was anchored in facilitating attendee networking and relationship building.

Co-chairs Drs Nagykaldi and Davis, in addition to Dr Aimee Eden (AHRQ), and Dr Vivian Ramsden (NAPCRG) welcomed attendees with opening remarks. The first day opened with the plenary “Beyond the Trailhead: Finding the Right Guide for Your Practice Change Expedition” delivered by Ariel Singer, MPH and closed with “Help Us Move ICPF Into the Future!” a World Café session led by Zsolt Nagykaldi, PhD. Alison Huffstetler, MD, FAAFP delivered the second day plenary, “Navigating the Complexities of Practice Facilitation and Policy.” Closing remarks included the poster winner, “Spreading the Implementation of a Peer-Support Intervention for Justice-Involved Veterans Leaving Incarceration,” received by Bo Kim, PhD.

More than one-half (58%) of attendees completed the post-conference evaluation; 93% (n = 43) expressed a high level of satisfaction with the meeting. Respondents most valued the protected networking time, speaker resources, and mix of session types. The majority (n = 37, 88%) of respondents plan to attend future ICPF meetings with 92% (n = 39) preferring an in-person meeting.

The ICPF continues to develop opportunities for collaborative knowledge and resource sharing to advance practice facilitation science and best practices. On behalf of the ICPF Steering Committee, we encourage you to take part in ICPF activities in 2024.