Understanding Community Health Improvement Processes

A Healthy Place to Live, Learn, Work and Play:

Outline

• Definitions• Key Principles• What Makes a Community Healthy• How a Community Can Become Healthier• Best Practices by Phase• Getting Started

Definition

Community Health Improvement Processes:

• Working intentionally, strategically and collaboratively at the local level to improve the health of the community

Many Names, One Goal

• CHIP & CHA (public health)

• CHIPP (public health in WI)

• CHNA (hospitals)

– Similar steps

– Same goal: Make the community a healthy

place to live, learn, work and play

• Wisconsin State Statutes and Administrative Rules

• Public Health Accreditation (voluntary)

Public Health Department Requirements

Wisconsin State Statutes.251.05(3)(c) A local health department shall involve key policy makers and the general public in determining and developing a CHIP...

Not-for-Profit Hospital Requirements

Every 3 years:• Community Health

Needs Assessments• With community

partners and public data

• Identify plans and roles for health improvement

Benefits

↑ Effectiveness through collaboration

↓ Duplication of efforts

↑ Community engagement and awareness around health issues

Benefits

↑ Health of community

↑ Build the community’s infrastructure

↓ Health care costs (includingindirect costs such as lower productivity and absenteeism)

Key Principles

• Use best practices • Actively engage

all stakeholders• Focus on

underlying forces that influence health

• Pay attention to health disparities

Key Principles

• Move energetically from data into ACTION

• Use evidence-informed strategies

• Include policy and systems-based strategies

What Makes a Community Healthy?

County Health Rankings and Roadmaps © 2012 UWPHI

What Makes a Community Healthy?

Health Disparities

= Differences between groups in their health status

– Examine disparities in health factors in your community

Health Equity = striving for the best health for all

– Address disparities to achieve health equity

How a Community Can Become Healthier

County Health Rankings and Roadmaps Model © 2014

Collaborate with Key Stakeholders

• Lead collaboratively with all core partners

• Involve community representatives throughout theprocess

• Engage community partners from under-represented groups

• Engage new partners as necessary after priority topics are chosen

Benefits of Collaboration

• More thorough picture of complex health needs

• Different resources and perspectives are critical to success

• Shared ownership leads to shared responsibility to address health issues

• More focused effort when all work in one direction together

Engage the Community

• Include broad participation from the

community throughout the process. In particular:– Seek input on community needs

and assets– Seek input on the preliminary list of priority

topics– Seek commitment to support implementation

• Be sure to engage: – Those affected by the issues being addressed– Under-represented or underserved populations

Assess Needs & Resources

• Collect and analyze community health data. Include: – Health disparities– Underlying determinants

of health– Issues and themes

identified by stakeholders and the community

– Community assets and resources – Input from community members on health

issues and assets

Focus on What’s Important

• Identify a set of priority community health issues to address– Use a set of criteria for

considering priorities– Choose a manageable

number of priorities– Use a skilled facilitator

Focus on What’s Important

• Align the local health improvement plan with state and national priorities

• Summarize and disseminate the results of the assessment to the community

Choose Effective Policies and Programs

• Engage partners to plan and implement strategies

• Choose effective (evidence-informed) strategies

• Have multi-level approaches to change, including policy and systems-based approaches

Act on What’s Important

• Develop an effective organizational structure

• Develop and use a detailed action plan to:– Organize steps – Assign accountability– Identify and secure needed

resources– Actively track progress

• Report progress to the community

• Celebrate success!

Evaluate Actions

• Design an evaluation plan at the beginning of the implementation process

• Evaluate and monitor both process and outcome measures

• Revise the action plan based on evaluation results

• Continually assess and address stakeholder involvement

Getting Started

Association for Community Health Improvement

• Understand each other’s mission, purpose and requirements

• Create a shared vision and goals

• Form an organizational structure that will work for your community

• Determine clear roles, responsibilities, and levels of authority

Getting Started

Association for Community Health Improvement

• Establish protocols for decision making and conflict resolution

• Create a communications plan

• Secure resources needed to begin

• Learn the best practices for community health improvement

• Draft a timeline for the steps in your process

Key Resources

• www.wicommunityhealth.org for the Wisconsin Guidebook on Improving the Health of Local Communities and other resources

• Healthiest Wisconsin 2020• Healthy People 2020• What Works for Health• National Prevention Strategy• County Health Rankings and Roadmaps• Association for Community Health

Improvement

A Healthy Place to Live, Learn, Work and Play:Understanding Community Health Improvement ProcessesVersion 2.0December 2014

• This resource was developed with funding from the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health from the Wisconsin Partnership Program. The resource is a result of a collaboration between the Wisconsin Association of Local Health Departments and Boards, the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute, and numerous additional partners. For more information, please go to www.wicommunityhealth.org or www.walhdab.org.