To identify and describe patient education activities and their organization in French healthcare facilities, INPES conducted a telephone survey between December 2006 and February 2007 among all facilities that had received funding under the Mission d'Intérêt Général (MIG) for "prevention and therapeutic education." In the first phase, the management teams of 333 healthcare facilities and 29 university hospitals were surveyed regarding their organizational structure. In the second phase, 1,284 patient education program coordinators, identified during the first phase, were surveyed regarding their activities. Data from 191 "facility" questionnaires, 17 "university hospital" questionnaires, and 789 "activity" questionnaires were collected and analyzed. Patient education appears to be an institutional priority for 75% of facility management teams, and coordination of these activities exists in 38% of them. On average, institutions report 6 to 7 sets of ongoing patient education activities covering a variety of topics: diabetes (74% of institutions), surgery (54%), cardiovascular diseases (50%), addiction (47%), respiratory diseases (35%), etc. The survey reveals the diversity of educational practices. Beyond the local momentum and interest generated by this study, these results contribute to discussions on the structuring and funding of patient education activities in hospitals, in coordination with community practice.