Joining Forces to Improve Health Outcomes in Metro Atlanta k
An interdisciplinary, coalition working to improve the region’s health through a collaborative approach to community health assessments and improvement strategies.
The Atlanta region has a great opportunity to change the culture of healthcare. A number of converging forces encourage providers to take a collaborative approach to health assessments and interventions: (1) public health departments who seek accreditation must perform community assessments; (2) local governments are thinking seriously about their investments in health, assessing needs and setting priorities; (3) foundations are increasingly choosing to invest in collaboratives rather than single agencies; (4) FQHCs must assess the need for expansion; and (5) hospitals are pressed to assess, plan, and invest to meet new IRS regulations. It’s tempting to approach this work independently, but the real opportunity lies in collaboration. With the potential to be more efficient and effective, collaborative assessment can lay the groundwork for collective priority setting and investment to achieve maximum impact.
Collaborative work by definition brings together traditional and non-traditional partners. Already in the Atlanta region, a group of community representatives have come together in response to the growing needs.These include: hospitals,
FQHCs, behavioral health providers, public health, philanthropy, local governments, regional leaders, academics and the CDC with the Georgia Health Policy Center, the Atlanta Regional Commission and United Way of Metropolitan Atlanta. Over the next six months additional stakeholders including physicians, insurers, business leaders, representatives from the faith and education communities will help shape the assessment and improvement work.
From July 2012 to November 2012 stakeholders will participate in a series of conversations to review the metro area health system, analyze current health data and build consensus on the challenges and the potential solutions. The results will include a collaborative regional health assessment and short and long term improvement plans that allow different partners to invest according to their interests and needs.
Utilizing national best practices, like the ARCHI six step community health assessment and the Re-Think Health simulation model, this can be completed in a relatively short timeframe. The Georgia Health Policy Center, The United Way and the Atlanta Regional Commission will provide project management, data and planning resources, facilitation and partnership building to ensure the success of this work.
The Philanthropic Collaborative for a Healthy Georgia provides strong evidence that collaboration can work. This group studies issues together and decides if they would like to invest in the issues collectively. Each partner gives in the way and the amount that suits the individual organization. With this flexible, collaborative approach, the group has been able to impact numerous issues over the last decade. In addition, ARCHI members bring a wealth of experience. As highlighted examples, the experience of the lead partners include: the Atlanta Regional Commission has recently led the creation of a
Lifelong Communities Collaborative, the Care Transitions Collaborative and Neighborhood Nexus, a multi-institutional data sharing network. The Georgia Health Policy Center has a 17-year history of convening partners from various backgrounds to create evidence-based policy. The United Way has been a convener on key social service issues in the Atlanta region for multiple decades.
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Atlanta Regional Commission
Carter Center Mental Health Program
Centers for Disease Control
DeKalb County Board of Health
Fulton County Department of Health Services
GA Association for Primary Health Care
Georgia Department of Public Health
Georgia Health Policy Center
Georgia Hospital Association
Grady Health Systems
Kaiser Permanente
Oakhurst Medical
Philanthropic Collaborative for a Healthy Georgia
Southside Medical Center
St. Joseph’s Health System
United Way of Metropolitan Atlanta k