A huge shoutout to THEZONE on receiving a $85k grant from the Smith-Barbieri Progressive Fund to help with two innovative projects to help with their efforts to revitalize Northeast Spokane!
Read MoreSMILE (Students Mastering Important Lifeskills Education) and New ESD 101 are hosting their annual conference "Early Prevention, Future Success" on October 26th at the Spokane Red Lion River Inn.
Read MoreIn 2010, 86% of total healthcare spending in the US was spent on individuals diagnosed with chronic medical issues. The most prominent among these diseases include cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, HIV/AIDS and obesity. Of the various components of our health that we can control, nutrition is one of the most influential factors.
We are thrilled to see a rising trend in providers and payers partnering with programs to provide nutritional support in three forms; provision, incentive and education.
Provides a direct provision of food that is customized to the patient’s personal medical diagnosis through both home delivery and medically customized food banks. These programs primarily serve patients who have serious chronic disease diagnoses and attempt to both improve both quality of life and prevent additional hospital visits and or medical costs. These programs come in the form of non-profit companies, sustained primarily by donations, as well as companies contracted with health insurers.
Comprised of food purchasing incentives, in which particular foods with health benefits such as fruits and vegetables are either subsidized by the programs or incentivized. Patients may receive a food prescription from their primary care physician which functions as a kind of coupon at local vendors for fresh and healthy foods. Additionally, some insurance providers are partnering with grocery stores to provide discount cards on certain healthy foods.
Not knowing how to prepare healthy meals can be the biggest barrier to good nutrition. Education programs seek to teach individuals how to properly construct a diet that fits with their health needs. These programs are prevention focused, and tend to target audiences that are at risk for developing chronic illness. Lifestyle education focuses on healthy cooking, how to exercise effectively and how to understand the cause and effect of their lifestyle choices on their health.
“Food insecurity is linked to a 46 percent increased likelihood of becoming a ‘high cost user’ of healthcare” (source)
Utilization and implementation of nutrition intervention programs has the ability to drastically impact chronic illness rates, medical costs, insurance coverage and nutrition accessibility.
Here in Eastern Washington, where 1 in 3 children is overweight or obese, and rates of Diabetes are climbing, innovating new programs to help people access and prepare healthy food will be essential to preventing health crisis. In our prevention work, we collaborate with local partners to innovate ideas like those above, and increase food access and food literacy to meet our region's health needs upstream.
To read more, visit: http://www.chlpi.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/Food-is-Prevention-Report-July-2015.pdf
Payment system reform is complicated, and we are so impressed with the hard work and energy the Health Care Authority has put into the Value-Based Roadmap. However, there are a few elements of this framework that raised some red flags for us.
We took some time to write HCA a letter detailing some of our concerns. Give it a read here.
The Health Care Authority then followed up with this letter as a response. We appreciate their thoughtful response, and willingness to hear our concerns and work together.
As of July 2016, the Better Health Together Board of Directors has adopted a revised Governance Policy for our ACH. Take a look here.
A couple months ago, we chatted with our friends in Hood River about a site visit to see the Pathways work in action. We were excited to meet with local partners who had come to a similar conclusion that “coordinating the coordinators” and organizing community assets to improve health was a noble and achievable community goal.
However, the team in Hood River has been selected for a large investment from an important funder. They are under a tremendous amount of pressure to be ready for this big announcement. Most of us in this field can relate to the pressure that can put on non-profits and community efforts, and we know big investments are few and far between. Hood River graciously asked if we could delay our visit. We could not, in good conscience, ask them to power through on this, and so we are canceling the site visit.
We know this is a let down, however there will be another opportunity to get up close and personal with Pathways at the Pathways to Community Care Coordination Summit in Ohio on September 29th and 30th.
While we were excited about the site visit to Hood River, we think the technical assistance and networking with many of the regions implementing the Pathways model may even be better! More info below:
Register today! Click here to complete the Enrollment Link
Date: September 29-30, 2016
Location: Akron Children’s Hospital, Akron Ohio
Scholarships are available to cover travel costs and the registration fee for this event. Scholarships will be available on a first-come, first-served basis. Click here to request a scholarship.
For questions, please contact 100mlives@ihi.org.
The Population Health Community Action Team is tackling some of our regions biggest health concerns an looking for ways to prevent them upstream. Our targeted results include:
Currently the group is in the process of prioritizing the metrics we would use to measure successful intervention in these areas. If you are interested in getting involved please email hadley@betterhealthtogether.org. All are welcome!
The Community Action Team for Social Determinants has broken into smaller workgroups around the goal areas below. Currently, we are using the Results Based Accountability (RBA) method of Turn-the-Curve thinking, to identify strategies and performance measures that address the root problems causing some of our communities' most widespread health issues. These open meetings are paired with targeted outreach by BHT ACH Staff to key movers-and-shakers of social programs and public forums requesting feedback. Once developed, all strategies will be made available on this site for public review. Please consider joining us at one of our upcoming meetings:
All are invited to join these meetings, hosted at the Philanthropy Center (1020 W Riverside, Spokane WA 99201). We welcome anyone to join us at any step in the process, but please do email justin@betterhealthtogether.org to let us know you'll be joining. We discuss current and needed work in our region, and develop strategy to radically improve community health.
Question:
Does basic Medicare cover regular dental visits?
A) Yes
B) No
C) I’m not sure…
If you answered A or C, you aren’t alone, as a recent Washington Dental Service Foundation survey showed 51% of respondents in Spokane believe Medicare covers dental. However, you would be wrong.
Correct answer: B) No, basic Medicare does not cover dental, and a lot of folks entering retirement are learning that the hard way. A recent article in The Spokesman Review talks about what steps folks approaching retirement should take for their oral health.
Good oral health relates to a lot more than just our teeth; our ability to chew effects the nutrition we receive, our ability to smile effects our confidence, and chronic conditions like Type 2 Diabetes can exacerbate dental decay.
Organizations like Smile Spokane, WDSF’s The Mighty Mouth, and our own DENT program are helping connect folks to the dental care they need, but for lasting change, we need a health care system that includes our mouths as part of our overall health. That's why the BHT ACH has set full integration of Oral, Physical, and Behavioral health systems as one of our region's main priorities.
Read the Spokesman article to learn more:
http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2016/aug/08/financial-decay-dental-care-can-threaten-retiremen/
On Tuesday July 19th, we hosted a second presentation on the Pathways HUB, this one from Dr. Sarah Redding. This webinar more specifically looked at the process of building a HUB and achieving certification, as well as some examples of specific Pathways and how to build or bundle one's own Pathways. Once again this was a lively discussion with ample question and answer time from Dr. Redding, and we are so grateful she took the time to share with us. You may watch the webinar or download the slides here in case you missed it.
We have decided to hold off on starting out Integrated Care work group until September. Our Social Determinants and Population Health work groups are identifying strategies that address health upstream, and our ACH Project Team is exploring the Pathways HUB model to see if it fits for our regional project. We feel the decisions made by these groups will be crucial in shaping our Integration strategies, so we've decided to delay. If you want to be involved in the Integrated Care work group once if forms, shoot us an email.
The Healthier Washington Community Transformation Team hosts a monthly Touch Base webinar to share updates about Accountable Communities of Health and their developing role in transforming our states healthy system.
Read MoreThe Spokane Regional Health District in partnership with the WA Department of Health is pleased to announce that registration is open for the July 13, 2016 Community Health Worker (CHW) Training at the NEW Health Conference Center in Chewelah, WA
This FREE training lasts eight weeks and is delivered through a blend of in-person and online components. The two in-person training dates are July 13, 2016 from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00p.m. and August 30, 2016 from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. Registration begins at 8:45 a.m. both in-person training days.
Participants will gain valuable skills to connect community members with health and social services. They also gain access to additional specialized trainings, access to a regional network and CHW exclusive local website.
To register please go to: http://www.doh.wa.gov/CHWTS.
We would like to extend a huge thank you to Bob Harnach and MIke Bonetto for presenting on the Pathways HUB to our Regional Project Team. Their presentation gave us a lot to explore, and we look forward to continuing conversations within the community action team around the viability of this model for our region.
If you would like to know more about the Pathways HUB, Mike & Bob were gracious enough to share their slides and a recording of the presentation.
We are saddened by news this morning of the passing of James L. Boyd, Tribal Chairman of the Colville Tribes. As well as a dedicated and fondly remembered leader among the Colville Indian Reservation, Boyd was a talented songwriter who won numerous awards for his music. He will be missed by many, and our hearts go out to his family and tribe in this time of mourning.
You may view the press release from the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation here.
The Family First Prevention Services Act will strengthen families and reduce inappropriate foster care placements.
Read MoreWhen it comes to health, not all zip codes are created equal.
Read MoreWe’ve been eagerly awaiting news on the Medicaid Transformation Waiver but, since we aren’t ones to just sit around, we’re moving full speed ahead.
We’ve spent months synthesizing the wealth of information generated in our Idealized Design and Community Linkage mapping sessions to develop and inform our Regional Health Improvement Plan and the selection of a Regional Health Improvement Project. During our focus group conversations, our community worked together to inventory existing linkages between community resources, and identify where linkages were broken or non-existent. Across those conversations, one need presented itself over and over again: the need to “coordinate the coordinators.”
The diversity of partners in our ACH Leadership Council members demonstrates the leadership and dedication needed to radically improving the health of our region. We agree the most emergent need is not to scale any one community resource or service but to build stronger and more navigable connections between the coordinators and resources already available.
This was realized in our design sessions as a need for “air traffic control” or a patient-centered workforce that helps coordinate services across all sectors. Independent organizations need the flexibility to explore their own models and develop their strengths, but to nurture healthy community, patients need services that communicate, collaborate, and speak the same language of care.
From this idea, we’ve pulled together a workgroup to explore the Pathways HUB model and serve as the steering committee for our Regional Health Improvement Project. Alisha Fehrenbacher from Empire Health Foundation, presented on to the ACH Leadership Council in March on her experiences implementing the Pathways HUB model (view her slides here) in Oregon. It is an evidence-based model currently deployed in over 20 regions of the US, that positions care organizations around a centralized HUB, and has been shown to effectively address risk factors, improve health and reduce costs.
We feel confident this model has a lot to offer our region and are excited to explore it further. The workgroup will continue to develop our plan throughout the summer, with the hope that we will be in position to hit the ground running once we hear about the waiver. If you are interested in joining the Leadership Council, please email Alison@betterhealthtogether.
Thank you to all who joined us to talk next steps for our ACH. And a special thank you to the Health Care Authority for driving all the way across the state to help bring some additional clarity on our role as an ACH.
This was a big meeting that produced some concrete action items for Leadership Council members. In case you missed it, here is the recap and documents:
We started the morning with a presentation from Kali Morris from the Health Care Authority on the role of the ACH in Medicaid Transformation. You can view those slides here. In her presentation, Kali made some comparisons to Medicaid transformation work happening in New York, and shared some lessons learned from their efforts. If you are interested in learning more, you can read this report on New York's DSRIP Program put together by The Commonwealth Fund. On the topic of Value Based Payments, HCA also shared this helpful visual on Alternative Payment Models.
After that we looked at our refined Community Strategy maps. Consider these our first draft as we synthesize the wealth of information that came out of our Idealized Design Sessions. The next step will be to form workgroups, each chaired by a BHT Board Member, to validate strategies, develop metrics, and finalize our community linkage maps. We will be forming a workgroup for each strategy map, reflecting our three ideal states of design. For more information, please review the following charters:
Additionally, we've made some headway on selecting our regional health improvement project around the development of a centralized community referral system ("air traffic control") based on the Pathways Community HUB model. We will be forming one additional workgroup to explore this model and serve as the steering committee to launch our project. You can take a look at the ACH Project Team Charter here.
We are looking for volunteers to join one (or many!) workgroups, with the intent of meeting through the summer, to have Strategy Maps finalized by September 20th. If you are interested in joining one of these workgroups, please read through the above charters and consider which group best fits your expertise, and email your interest to Alison@betterhealthtogether.
We also shared with everyone Empire Health Foundation's new Oral Health Access document. Please take a look and feel free to share!
That was a big update! But we are thrilled to have some actionable to-dos as a group. Thank you all for your willingness to jump aboard.
