Tag: accountable community of health

ACH Evaluation Report Released

Posted on

Our Accountable Community of Health work drives on! If you are curious to see how Washington ACH’s have been developing, the Health Care Authority has just released the Year 1 ACH Evaluation Report. The report was administered by the Center for Community Health and Evaluation, and is packed with data, survey results, updates, and next steps about all 9 designated ACHs in Washington. If you want a quick glance, check out this ACH at-a-glance doc, which shows a summary of all of the ACH organizational structures and their regional priorities. Happy reading!

 

 

Health Affairs on Accountable Communities of Health

Posted on

We here at BHT were very happy to see an Accountable Communities of Health headline in the Health Affairs Blog, generating some much needed buzz around addressing social determinants of health. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Accountable Health Communities is the first pilot program to really address the huge gap between the healthcare delivery system and the actual community foundations that make people healthy – access to fresh and healthy food, safe housing, stable employment, etc. Data shows that when health care delivery organizations assess social needs in tandem with clinical needs, providers see a bigger picture that allows them to more fully understand patient health outcomes. Read the full article here to learn more about how the ACH work is expanding the definition of health care. 

Next Steps for our ACH

Posted on

True health care reform cannot happen from Washington DC. It has to happen in our kitchens, in our homes, in our communities. All health care is personal.

-Dr. Mehmet Oz

Over the last few weeks, I had the good fortune of spending time with our friends from Pend Oreille, Ferry, and Stevens counties. After watching these local communities take ownership of their community health, especially in contrast with rhetoric coming from our Presidential hopefuls, I’m more convinced than ever that health transformation happens in our kitchens, our homes, and our communities.  

When we first launched our ACH work, it was a hard concept to wrap our heads around. We aren’t government, we don’t have any power to make people do things, we aren’t a risk bearing entity. But we are a compilation of community members who care deeply about the health of our community, with a strong bias towards action that improves health.

Fast forward a year to now and we are on our way! In January, we hosted a fabulous gathering of 80+ people who helped us launch our Community Linkage Mapping and Idealized Design efforts. We have now recruited another 80 folks to help refine our Community Linkage Maps and define the functions necessary for effective action. From there, we’ll start to build our Regional Health Improvement Plan and select our ACH Regional Projects.

It’s good work happening! Thanks for being part of the team that is radically improving the health of our region. 

ACW

If you missed Monday’s “What Is Possible” webinar, you can view a recording and read through the slides here. 

 

 

Submit Your Project for BHT Endorsement to the HCA Medicaid Waiver

Posted on

This past week the Health Care Authority (HCA) hosted a webinar explaining the process for submission of potential projects to be considered for the Medicaid Waiver Project Menu.
 
It is our intent at Better Health Together to submit a set of prioritized projects for consideration to HCA’s Medicaid Waiver team that aligns with our set of Regional Health Priorities as well as our set of values for improving health in our region.
 
If you would like your proposed project to be considered for an endorsement from Better Health Together, please submit the HCA’s Transformation Project Template to alison@betterhealthtogether.org by January 12, 2015 at 3pm. 

A subcommittee of the Better Health Together Board of Directors serving on behalf of the Better Health Together ACH will evaluate each project for alignment with our Regional Health Priorities.
 
We are taking this important step for two reasons:

  1. Demonstrate to HCA the effectiveness of our ACH in bringing the right people to the table in an aligned way to radically improve the health of our region and
  2. Ensure there are projects included on the Waiver Menu that align with each of our priority areas. 

The following resources will be useful in the development of your proposed projects:

Official Designation as an Accountable Community of Health

Posted on

bht-thumbnail_ACH-thumbnail.png

You may have heard a collective “Woohoo” from the BHT team yesterday when the Health Care Authority officially designated Better Health Together as an Accountable Community of Health. I can’t help but think of Sally Fields: “You like me … you like me!” 

Click here to read the official designation announcement.

We are really proud of the work our region has accomplished. We have convened the right players around the table: rurals and urbans, health systems and human services organizations, philanthropy, government and many other people and organizations that will be required to make our community radically healthier. We have come together as a region and prioritized five key areas . I wish I could say that our first year of forming was the hard work, but it really was not. Instead, the hard work is ahead, but I am optimistic about what is possible.

We had planned to host our 2nd Annual Health Champions Regional Gathering on Thursday, November 19th, but Mother Nature had a different idea. Due to the severe weather impacts throughout our region, we rescheduled this gathering to January 14th. Our goals and plans stay the same, we will just be a few weeks later launching the second phase of our Accountable Community of Health as well as the development of our Regional Health Action Plans. This fast-paced, highly interactive day will include design sessions for each of our key priority areas and a community mapping of the key activities that will be required to make meaningful and impactful progress.

After the Gathering, we will launch a series of Community Action Teams to further develop the community linkage maps and begin the hard work of transforming the system.  We know this is no easy task, but I know our region’s “can do” spirit will again make us a leader in this work. If you would like to attend please let Casey know you will be there at casey@betterhealthtogehter.org.