Public Engagement Regarding Patient-facing Hospital Policy: Ethics, Challenges, and Opportunities

There have been many calls for health care systems to engage and listen to community voices, particularly when making consequential policy decisions about patient care. Such decisions may range from policies for rationing scarce COVID-19 interventions to requiring masking in hospitals in the post-pandemic era, and beyond, to reproductive and transgender care policies in a post-Dobbs public landscape. But what does it really mean to engage the public in deliberation on hospital policies? What are the benefits and hazards of such engagement? What would hospital leaders and community members need to put such a decision-making model into place? And how can ethics leaders facilitate this work?
At this special joint Clinical Ethics + Organizational Ethics Consortium, we explored the ethics, challenges of, and opportunities for public engagement regarding patient-facing policy. We discussed first what public engagement is, both in theory and in practice, and then perspectives from a local hospital leader and patient advocate on the promise and challenges of publicly-engaged deliberation to help inform organizational decision-making. Through facilitated discussion amongst speakers and attendees, we explored a practical approach for this model's potential application in health care systems.
Panelists included Erika Blacksher, PhD, Julius Yang, MD, PhD, and Basel Tarab, MD, MBE, MHA.M Moderated by Jonathan Marron, MD, MPH, HEC-C and Charlotte H. Harrison, PhD, JD, MPH, HEC-C. Consortia co-organizers included Leanne Homan, RN, BSN, MBE, HEC-C and Kelsey N. Berry, PhD. Support provided by the Oswald DeN. Cammann Fund at Harvard University.