Hospitals and health systems are cornerstones of the communities they serve.  Today they are being challenged to demonstrate their value by improving community health and delivering cost effective clinical care.  Meeting this challenge requires new strategies for linking clinical care and community support  services.  Community Health Solutions provides research, data, analytics, tools, technical assistance, and learning supports to help  hospitals and health systems:

  1. Conduct community health needs assessments,
  2. Develop community health improvement strategies,
  3. Strengthen capabilities for population health management,
  4. Accelerate improvement through Action Learning. 
  5. Demonstrate value to key stakeholders.

1. Conduct Community Health Needs Assessments

Many hospitals and health systems are required to conduct community health needs assessments (CHNAs) under the Affordable Care Act, but even organizations that are not required to do so can benefit from a strategically designed CHNA.  Community Health Solutions offers a flexible and streamlined approach to CHNA including quantitative community health indicators and qualitative input from community stakeholders.  The results can be delivered in a traditional report format or via a community portal complete with data tables and mapping.  To date we have use this approach to help dozens of hospital facilities address their CHNA requirements.  These hospitals are using their CHNA results to inform their community health improvement strategies.

2. Develop Community Health Improvement Strategies

Under the Affordable Care Act, hospitals and health systems are required to use their CHNA results to inform the design and implementation of community health improvement strategies.  Ideally these strategies should be thoughtfully crafted to engage multiple community partners in collaborative initiatives.  Community Health Solutions has extensive experience in helping hospitals and health systems facilitate development of collaborative strategies for community health improvement.  We use this experience to help our clients develop community strategies that work for community residents and the multiple stakeholders responsible for community health.

3. Strengthen Capabilities for Population Health Management

Population health management can be defined as a focused strategy for improving health and health care relative to cost for defined populations.   Population health management is especially important for hospitals and health systems that are being paid based on performance through Medicare, Medicaid, health plans, and employer-sponsored programs.  Community Health Solutions helps hospitals and health systems build and apply the core competencies of population health management, including identifying populations, assessing health risks, identifying care needs,  optimizing care models, collaborating for impact, assuring quality, and demonstrating value.

4. Accelerate Improvement through Action Learning Networks

Hospitals and health systems are continually learning and implementing new strategies for population health improvement.  Action Learning is a strategic process by which individuals and teams learn and improve while solving immediate challenges. Community Health Solutions provides a proven package of supports to help hospitals and health systems accelerate learning for defined projects.  We begin by working with organizations to co-design learning strategies in response to specific challenges.  We then support the learning process by providing meeting facilitation, training, tools, and technical support for research, data development, data analysis, and problem solving.  These supports are delivered through a combination of on-site meetings, virtual meetings, and an online learning portal.  The online learning portal becomes a critical asset for capturing and spreading knowledge generated by the project.  The portal can be hosted by Community Health Solutions or by the organization itself.  

5. Demonstrate Value to Key Stakeholders

Health care purchasers are moving toward value-driven systems of service delivery and payment, as evidenced by current strategies of Medicaid, Medicare, health plans, and employers.  Generally speaking, purchasers and policymakers are challenging hospitals and health systems to advance the triple aim of better health, better care, and lower costs for defined populations.  The emerging framework for demonstrating value is population health management focused on clinical excellence and community health improvement.   The challenge lies in using data to prove the clinical and community value of these strategies.  We help hospitals and health systems:

  • Define objectives for clinical and community value;
  • Design models for measuring and reporting value to specific stakeholders;
  • Build capacity (data, skills) for producing value analysis;
  • Execute value analysis and reporting.

Learn more…

Please contact Stephen Horan at 804.673.0166 or chs@chsresults.com to learn more about strategy supports for hospitals and health systems.

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