Table 4 Qualitative themes related to virtual PF

Positive feedback about the facilitators

“[Name] was our facilitator- she was great; she let us know it was our OSC and our plan-she was just there to help. She was the perfect facilitator. She was good at walking the line of doing and encouraging people to take ownership.” (Clinic H)

“I really liked [our facilitator]. She did a very good job as far as teaching us what we needed to do and how to get it done. And making sure we had ideas. She was very willing to listen to new ideas and we made some scripting changes – sometimes we talked about things like that. She kept us on track.” (Clinic H)

“All of the practice facilitators were very,very cheerful,eager to help make improvements. It brought a nice feeling to it. They brightened the mood and were really motivated to improve.” (Clinic A)

Tools used for virtual PF were useful

“I think having all of that like essentially given to us in terms of like the template and layout [in Teams] … those are just not intuitive things for me… So I think that was really helpful.” (Clinic G)

Facilitators were supportive and resourceful

“I think [the facilitator] was very supportive. She was very good about sending emails,messages and doing the audits sheets,taking and answering questions-not one thing specific-she was there if we needed anything. If she couldn’t do it,she would find someone who could.” (Clinic H)

“She was very understanding and didn’t make anyone feel bad for anything. Like if there’s a case that was challenging or some clean-up to do with medication management,there was no judgement or any negative feedback. It was all supportive and for the case of making it better for everyone,patient included.” (Clinic G)

Facilitators were organized, responsible, and reliable

“I appreciated [our facilitator’s] organizational skills. She really helped to get us to understand what our mission was,what the purpose of the committee was,and how we could help the providers.” (Clinic F)

“I would say [the facilitator was] very organized. I remember after all of the meetings,there was a summary of what the meeting was,what the action items were,and that helped with follow-through for things like this that aren’t on my daily to-do list,to have that available to me at the end of the meeting,so I could meet the next deadline. That was the most helpful thing and the thing that stands out the most.” (Clinic B)

“Something seemingly simple,like the act of renaming the document made a world of difference. [The facilitator] did a great job at helping us stay organized in a lot of instances. If that hadn’t happened,we would have had difficulty staying on task or even up to date with some of those. That was a huge help.” (Clinic A)

“I would say [the facilitator was] very eager,very positive,super helpful. I think incredibly patient. Sometimes it would be a while before at least myself would respond to emails – so they were making sure that things were followed up on. They were also very organized.” (Clinic B)

Facilitators fostered trust

“In the first meeting I thought I don’t know who this [facilitator] is,but she had her agenda set for what to talk about and she kept the flow going really well. She helped it go very seamlessly and helped keep everybody on track and everybody’s components have equal footing. So,it wasn’t all about social work or the providers opinion on patient – it was truly keeping it integrated- to look at all aspects of it not just taking a narrow view of the problem like it was the provider’s fault.” (Clinic E)

“[The facilitators] asked for opinions based on what your specialty is – they were always asking if there was something missing from each perspective,trying to get all around care required to make sure nothing is missing; when I was brand new I didn’t know any of the terminology or acronyms- they were helpful answering questions,not at all making me feel like an idiot because I didn’t know.” (Clinic G)

Virtual PF helped teams work through challenges

“[The facilitator is] very thorough. She’s engaged,not just there to facilitate but make sure we’re on track and on time. She’s been great – really easy going. Cause some of us get stuck in a rut or we’re not sure – oh we tried looking for info and couldn’t find it – she’ll have ideas like have you tried that?” (Clinic D)

“The thing I appreciated was she helped us get over…helped describe what we’re doing,why we’re doing it,kept us on track,made sure we continued to meet and review. I think she was very helpful in facilitating the conversation and helping everyone get involved. When we run [the OSC meetings] now everybody understands their role. That’s what a facilitator should do is get us going then let us fly and [our facilitator] was great with that.” (Clinic G)

OSC members gained skills through virtual PF

“I learn a lot from the people that are on the committees. They have different levels of expertise themselves. They come from different perspectives,which helps me gain new [perspectives]-- pharmacy has a specific way of looking at things – but that’s not the only way to look at it. Learning from other people their perceptions of these issues is valuable to me and helps me understand how to move forward with these situations.” (Clinic E)

“Working with [the facilitator on this project] has really opened my eyes a lot more to my role in management of people with chronic pain and people taking opioids long term.” (Clinic C)