Be recognized for bringing person-centered care principles to life.

The Fellow in Person-Centered Care Program is a recognition program developed by Planetree International that offers a professional credential to qualified individuals who have demonstrated knowledge, experience and leadership in person-centered care.

The professional credential is FPCC, which stands for Fellow in Person-Centered Care. It signals both a Fellow’s personal conviction that person-centered care is the right thing to do AND your professional track record of person-centered care in action.

Becoming a Fellow in Person-Centered Care is an exciting professional achievement that demonstrates your commitment to the values of person-centered care, to your own growth and to contributing in a meaningful way to creating a more person-centered healthcare system.

Earning the Fellow credential benefits both you and your organization:

• It builds your credibility as a knowledgeable person-centered care professional with a track-record of success
• It creates a sense of personal accomplishment that can propel you in your professional growth
• It helps you build the skills and knowledge that will help you contribute to your organization’s efforts to create a culture of person-centered excellence and work toward or sustain Person-Centered Care Certification®

The FPCC credential focuses on the competencies of person-centered care and is available to any individual, regardless of professional role or educational background. The credential can be earned by clinical and non-clinical staff, leaders and frontline caregivers, established healthcare professionals and those just starting their career. It is NOT required that individuals work for a Planetree Certified organization to become a Fellow in Person-Centered Care.

The FPCC credential is awarded to individuals who demonstrate their participation in a range of activities to:

1. LEARN continuously to expand their knowledge in person-centered care
2. DO the work to apply that knowledge in practice.
3. SHARE their knowledge to advance the field.

To earn the credential, applicants must present evidence of activities within each of these three areas (Learn, Do and Share). A menu of credit options outlines activities that earn credit toward the credential. The number of credits varies based on the activity. A total of 20 credits, spread across the three areas, is required to be awarded the credential.

The menu of activities has been designed to maximize flexibility for how individuals can earn the required 20 points. There are options geared toward individuals in varied roles and at any stage of their career.

Passing the Planetree Fellow Program Competency Exam is one way to earn 3 credits in the “Learning” area. 3 credits can be earned by scoring 80% or above on the 75-question exam. You can access the exam here.

Passing the exam, however, is just one of the options for earning Learning credits. Alternatively (or in addition), applicants can attend a person-centered care conference, participate in a course related to person-centered care and/or listen to webinars on person-centered topics.

Go to resources.planetree.org/fellows-application/ to start your application.

The application fee for applicants from Planetree member organizations is $975. The non-member rate is $1,450. Current students and patient/family partners pay a reduced rate of $499.

The non-member rate includes access to a curated library of tools and educational resources to support applicants’ person-centered care efforts.

All Fellows receive a signed Fellow in Person-Centered Care Certificate and a lapel pin with the Fellow badge. In addition, all Fellows will be listed on the Planetree web site for the duration of their FPCC term. A recognition toolkit including the FPCC logo, a sample announcement, sample social medial tweets and tips on promoting your accomplishment will be emailed to all new Fellows.

The official PFCC certificate and pin will be presented to all new Fellows at the next Planetree International Conference on Person-Centered Care. For those unable to attend the Conference in person to receive their certificate and pin, arrangements can be made to ship the items at an additional cost. Alternatively, the certificate can be sent electronically.

Fellows must re-apply every 3 years to maintain the credential.

Planetree International’s Person-Centered Care Certification® is awarded to organizations that have met established standards for excellence in person-centered care. The Planetree Fellow credential is awarded to individuals who exhibit knowledge and experience in person-centered care.

The two programs are aligned around shared concepts, but they operate independently of each other. It is NOT required that an individual work for a Planetree Certified organization to become a Fellow in Person-Centered Care. Similarly, it is NOT required that individuals earn the Planetree Fellow for an organization to be eligible for Person-Centered Care Certification®.