Application for Community-based Practice Sites
Kraft Fellowship Program and/or Kraft Practitioner Program
Program Year: July 2013 – June 2015
Deadline: November 15, 2012
Background
The Kraft Family National Center for Leadership and Training in Community Health
is seeking community health centers, or similar health care organizations serving a
diverse, primarily low-income patient population, to serve as clinical practice sites
for its two-year Kraft Fellowship Program and/or its two-year Kraft Practitioner
Program. Selected community-based practice sites will have the opportunity to
participate in one or both of these innovative programs, the goal of which is to
prepare clinician-leaders who can help build the field of community health and
ensure the delivery of high quality care in community-based settings that serve
predominately diverse, low- and moderate-income individuals and families and
underserved communities. The Massachusetts League of Community Health
Centers, an important partner in the development of the Kraft Center, and
community health center leaders themselves have participated in developing the
selection criteria for community-based practice sites. These criteria have been
designed to ensure the highest quality community-based learning experience for
participants in Kraft Center programs.
More details about the Kraft Fellowship Program and the Kraft Practitioner
Program, and the expectations for the community-based practice sites associated
with each, follow:
Kraft Fellowship Program
The Kraft Fellowship Program offers talented, mission-driven physicians the
opportunity to practice in underserved communities while at the same time
developing leadership and/or research skills, increasing their understanding of the
social determinants of health through academic study, and positioning themselves
for careers as academic-community providers.
Community-based practice sites are a key component of the Kraft Fellowship
Program, providing Fellows with hands-on clinical experience in a community
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setting, as well as mentorship from seasoned clinicians well-versed in the specific
needs of underserved groups.
Specifics as to the role of community-based practice sites in the Kraft Fellowship
Program include the following:

Provide Kraft Fellows with appropriate clinical practice time – typically,
three sessions per week that may include both continuity clinics and urgent
care. [Practice sessions must accommodate Fellows’ coursework at the
Harvard School of Public Health and other learning experiences offered by
the Kraft Fellowship Program].

Designate a primary clinician-mentor for Kraft Fellows. The clinician-mentor
will: orient the Fellow to the community-based practice site and its
community; provide opportunities for the Fellow to observe and discuss how
patient care visits incorporate social determinants of health and include
appropriate referrals to community resources; and serve as an ongoing
learning resource and sponsor for the Fellow within the site.

Contribute to and provide guidance for the Kraft Fellow’s “substantive
project,” which will reflect the interests of the community-based practice site
and may include: participation in a community-based participatory research
project; design and implementation of a quality improvement initiative; or a
policy and/or program development project related to an identified need in
the community served by the practice site. The priorities of the communitybased practice site will inform the project’s development. Insights and
support will also be provided by the Fellow’s clinician-mentor, by Kraft
Center faculty, and by Harvard School of Public Health faculty with an
interest in the project’s content and/or methodology.

Provide opportunities for Kraft Fellows to: participate in multidisciplinary
clinical and administrative teams; have access to both the practice site’s
Executive Director and Medical Director; engage in appropriate leadership
development activities; and participate in practice site-sponsored
community initiatives, all with a view to enhancing Fellows’ learning about
community-based care and community health.
Kraft Fellows will begin their clinical practice at community-based practice sites in
late August/early September 2013. Fellows’ salary and benefits will be supported
by the Kraft Center; patient care revenues generated by Fellows will accrue to their
host community-based practice site. Kraft Fellows come from a variety of disciples,
including internal medicine, primary care, family medicine, pediatrics,
obstetrics/gynecology, and psychiatry. Both Fellows and selected community-based
practice sites will participate in determining clinical practice placements for
individual Fellows, and it is a goal that Fellows will continue to practice at their host
site following completion of the program if desirable and feasible for both parties.
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Kraft Practitioner Program
The Kraft Practitioner Program is designed to attract, develop, and retain physicians
and masters prepared nurses, including advanced practice nurses, for careers in
community health centers and similar settings. The program responds to the stated
need of community health centers for a stable, sustainable workforce of excellent
clinicians to care for their patients. Community-based practice sites selected for the
Kraft Practitioner Program will have the opportunity to nominate their physicians
and masters-prepared nurses to participate in the program as Kraft Practitioners.
The Kraft Center will reimburse community-based practice sites for 20% of Kraft
Practitioners’ time, thus enabling them to take part in the training and career
development activities offered by the program.
Expectations for community-based practice sites selected for the Kraft Practitioner
Program include the following:

Nominate up to two clinicians (physicians and/or masters-prepared nurses)
to participate in the Kraft Practitioner Program.

Ensure the 20% protected time component of the program, as well as
provide scheduling flexibility so that Kraft Practitioners can participate in
Kraft Center monthly formal day-long learning sessions, as well as other
learning opportunities;

Work with their Kraft Practitioners to identify a community health or quality
improvement project that is a priority for the community-based practice site.

Provide Kraft Practitioners with an on-site mentor for that project.

Meet with Kraft Center leadership at regular intervals to review their Kraft
Practitioner’s progress, and provide overall support for their own
Practitioners, the Kraft Practitioner Program, and the Kraft Center.
Physicians and masters-prepared nurses selected for participation in the Kraft
Practitioner Program will be expected to engage fully in program activities,
including:

Prepare for, attend, and actively participate in monthly Kraft Center learning
days.

Complete a community health or quality improvement project, selected in
consultation with their community-base practice site’s leadership and guided
by an identified on-site mentor.
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
Develop career goals and a professional development plan that includes selfdirected and peer learning components.
Upon completion of the Kraft Practitioner Program, Kraft Practitioners will be
expected to remain committed to their community-based practice site, developing
into leadership roles as appropriate, serving as mentors and role models for new
clinicians beginning their careers in community-based settings, and helping to build
the capacity of the practice site to attract and retain the next generation of
clinicians.
Eligibility and criteria for selecting community-based practice sites
Key criteria for community-based practice sites participating in the Kraft Fellowship
Program and/or the Kraft Practitioner Program are outlined below. Applicants to
both programs will be required to submit socioeconomic data on their patient
populations, as well as evidence that they are able to meet all applicable selection
criteria.
Key criteria for all community-based practice sites:



Serve a diverse, primarily low-income patient population
Engage actively in assessing and responding to community needs
Demonstrated prior experience with and participation in quality
improvement initiatives
Key criteria for Kraft Fellowship Program community-based practice sites:





Demonstrated capacity and commitment to supporting Kraft Fellows at a
level comparable to the supports provided to current clinicians, in terms of:
available practice sessions; space; clinical and administrative support; and
participation in multidisciplinary team care.
Have a need and/or place within the site’s practice for a clinician from one or
more of the disciplines (including internal medicine, primary care, family
medicine, pediatrics, obstetrics/gynecology, and psychiatry) represented by
the current cohort of Kraft Fellows. (Please note that the selection process
for Kraft Fellows and thus for community-based practice sites seeks to
ensure diversity and appropriate balance among these disciplines).
Provide Kraft Fellows with an identified primary clinical mentor.
Model shared leadership with the Chief Medical Officer or Medical Director
participating in goal-setting, strategy development, and decision-making for
the practice site.
Be a patient-centered health home or have a commitment to practicing using
team-based care.
Due to the need to coordinate Kraft Fellows’ clinical practice schedules with course
offerings at the Harvard School of Public Health, the 2013 cohort of Kraft Fellowship
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Program community-based practice sites will be selected primarily from sites in the
Greater Boston area for this year of the Fellowship.
Key criteria for Kraft Practitioner Program community-based practice sites:




Demonstrated commitment to attracting, developing, and retaining excellent
clinicians.
Capacity to support a Practitioner, including: arrangements for 20%
protected time; assignment of one or more project mentors; and scheduling
flexibility to participate in monthly day-long structured learning sessions.
Capacity to identify one or more potential community health and/or quality
improvement projects in collaboration with the Kraft Practitioner
Commitment on the part of practice site leadership to participating in
relevant Kraft Center activities.
Kraft Practitioner Program community-based practice sites will be selected from
sites throughout Massachusetts for this year of the program.
Selection of Kraft Practitioners:
Community-based practice sites selected for the Kraft Practitioner Program will be
required to nominate up to two clinicians (physicians and masters-prepared nurses)
to participate in the program. Each nominated clinician must be within the first five
years of their community-based practice career and must submit a statement of
interest accompanied by a letter of recommendation from the practice site.
The Kraft Center will review the applications and select a cohort of approximately
sixteen Practitioners for the current program year. The selection process will seek
to ensure that the cohort of Kraft Practitioners includes diversity and appropriate
balance in terms of professions (physicians and nurses), discipline (internal
medicine, primary care, family medicine, pediatrics, obstetrics/gynecology, and
psychiatry), and practice site characteristics, including populations served and the
nature and types of community programs available at the site. The selection process
may include candidate interviews, as well as conversations with leaders at the
nominating practice site.
More information on the Kraft Practitioner selection process will be made available
to participating community-based practice sites.
KRAFT CENTER FOR COMMUNITY HEALTH
COMMUNITY-BASED PRACTICE SITE APPLICATION FORM
Once completed, please email this application form by Thursday, November 15th
to: Tara Murphy, Administrative Director, Kraft Center for Community Health at
tmurphy15@partners.org
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Name of organization
Address
Contact person
Email:
Phone:
Executive Director (name and years in position)
Medical Director/CMO (name and years in position)
Applying for:
o Kraft Fellowship Program
o Kraft Practitioner Program
o Both
All applicants must complete the following sections:
Description of patient population

Number of patients

Number of visits

Unique number of patients below 200% of federal poverty level

Racial and ethnic composition (please provide %)
Please describe briefly (in no more than 75 words per item) the practice site’s
experience in the following areas:

Clinical teaching

Clinical research

Quality improvement projects

Community programs
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
Progress toward becoming a patient-centered health home
Applicants to the Kraft Fellowship Program must complete the following:
Please describe briefly (in no more than 75 words per item) the practice site’s
anticipated arrangements to support a Fellow:

Practice sessions and appropriate practice space

Clinical and administrative support

Participation in a multidisciplinary care team

Potential clinical mentor(s) Please identify

Potential mentor(s) for scholarship project
Please describe the organizational leadership model and roles of Chief
Executive Officer/Executive Director and Chief Medical Officer/Medical
Director
Applicants to the Kraft Practitioner Program must complete the following:
Please describe briefly (in no more than 75 words) the practice site’s
experience with recruitment and retention.
Please describe briefly (in no more than 75 words per item) the practice site’s
anticipated arrangements to support a Kraft Practitioner:

Arrangements for protected time

One or more community health and/or quality improvement projects

Potential project mentor(s). Please identify and describe.
Please describe the ways in which the organizational leadership at the
practice site will engage with the Kraft Practitioner Program – e.g. hosting a
learning session, sharing expertise and leadership development experiences
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with Kraft Practitioners, and developing career paths and further professional
development opportunities for Kraft Practitioner Program graduates.
Given that we plan to use technology to facilitate Kraft Practitioner learning,
please indicate the extent to which your practice site have the technical
capacity to support virtual learning -- e.g. availability of space and a computer
with Web access for use by the Kraft Practitioner; access to video
conferencing; etc. (These are not requirements).
We are interested in selecting a cohort of Kraft Practitioners that represent
diversity across professions, disciplines, and practice experience. If you are
selected as a community-based practice site, we are interested in your current
thinking about the characteristics of your potential nominees in the following
areas. (We are not expecting identification of particular individuals at this
point):

Profession (physician or nurse)

Discipline (internal medicine, primary care, family medicine, pediatrics,
OB/GYN, and psychiatry)

Priority for your practice site – recruiting a new clinician or retaining
relatively new clinicians (1-5 years in practice)
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