Patient Advocacy Reporting System (PARS) launches

In October 2019, Michigan Medicine kicked off the Coworker Observation Report System  a program that provides feedback to faculty physicians based on coworker reports. 

The PARS (Patient Advocacy Reporting System) program, which provides similar feedback based on patient and family concerns, launched in February.

Both programs use trained informal peer messengers to bring awareness to faculty physicians when there is a perceived lapse in professionalism. 

“There are over 170 hospitals and heathy systems that participate in the PARS/CORS program,” said Marie Lozon, M.D., chief of staff for the Office of Clinical Affairs. “With our participation, we have access to comparison data for physicians by specialty, which can be very helpful in some instances.”

Currently PARS and CORS is only implemented at Michigan Medicine for faculty physicians who see patients.

“We find that 80 percent of the time, when physicians are made aware of the feedback from a physician peer messenger, they typically have no future concerns reported by patients,” said Keith Gran, chief patient experience officer. 

Quick comparison of PARS and CORS

The PARS and CORS program aligns very closely with Michigan Medicine’s journey to become a high reliability organization and reduce harm to patients and employees.   

How to report a professionalism concern:

Patients and family can report through:

• Patient Relations and Clinical Risk at 877-285-7788 or Pager 1490.

Coworker can report via:

• Click here to complete a report in the Risk Pro RL patient safety reporting system
  • The Compliance Hotline: 866-990-0111. The hotline is a professional call intake and triage center, operated by a third party vendor (outside of U-M) and staffed with interview specialists who are available 24/7/365. If you wish, you can request to file your report anonymously and your anonymity will be protected.
  • Contact the Office of Clinical Affairs: 734-647-2239.