2016 AssociAtion for community HeAltH improvement conference Summary of ProceedingS

lisa Herms, msc, research Analyst, sodexo rachel s. permuth, phD, mspH, national research Director, sodexo

The Association for Community Health

Improvement (ACHI) held its annual national

conference from March 1-3, 2016. The ACHI

is the premier national association for

community health, community benefit and

healthy communities professionals. This years

conference was held in Baltimore, Maryland, and

centered on discussion around the From Health

Care to Healthy Communities idea.

The event brought together hundreds of community thought leaders, population health experts and

community organizations, in sessions of collaborative engagement and learning. Presentations and

interactive meetings introduced and critically discussed the latest tools and approaches to population

and community health. This summary provides an overview of some of the key themes and takeaways

that emerged from the conference.

Clearly, community health improvement is not an easy feat and requires collaboration and input from

a variety of disciplines and stakeholders. Yet, the conference sessions showed that such improvement

is possible and increasingly being sought out and achieved. The underlying message permeating the

conference was the importance and proven success of collaboration and communication between

stakeholders, as a way to effectively rally and utilize all available resources, data and expertise to

improve community health.

From the plentitude of sessions and engaging presentations, three main themes stood out. These are

areas in which Sodexo can also play a role and help the movement toward improved community health.

1. Moving Beyond the Four Walls of the Hospital: To have a truly successful population health management strategy, healthcare systems must continue to venture outside of the clinical

environment and into peoples daily lives at home and at work.

2. Community Health Means Collaboration: Community health improvement cannot be achieved by any one designated organization it requires collaboration across sectors and stakeholders.

3. Taking the Evidence-based Approach to Community Health: Just as in other sectors, the movement toward community health requires the utilization of data and evidence, to inform actions

and consequently drive results.

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Moving Beyond the Four Walls of the Hospital

It is widely acknowledged that healthcare is no longer confined to the hospital, and most large

healthcare systems have started to move toward population health. However, there is still a lack

of understanding of what population health truly entail and furthermore, which competencies and

strategies are required in order for an initiative to be successful. To have a truly effective impact

on population health, healthcare organizations must create a bridge to the broader community.

Existing examples of successful initiatives show that this requires a fundamental paradigm shift.

Understanding this transitional process and the necessary adaptations to infrastructure, leadership

capabilities, and collective mindset are critical in bringing healthcare to the next level.

Sodexo has already taken steps to adopt this new approach, by collaborating with numerous

organizations in order to improve health and well-being in the workplace. Speakers at the conference

often referenced the community in terms of where people live. While this definition is widely

understood and accepted, we must also recognize that since people spend the majority of their day

at work, there is also a community that centers around the work environment. In fact, the work

environment may serve as a starting point or a bridge between clinical care and the larger population.

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Community Health Means Collaboration

Community health improvement cannot be achieved by any one organization alone. It is not the

sole responsibility of healthcare providers, nor can it fall on the shoulders of any one individual

or community health organization. In order to truly make a lasting and effective impact, healthy

communities require collaborations among diverse stakeholders. Yet such a collaboration is often

difficult to build, lead and uphold in an ongoing effort. The conference speakers presented various

examples of community collaborations from initiatives that target more value-based spending, to

initiatives aiming to integrate healthcare more efficiently. Sodexos Communities 4 Health pilot is an

example of an effective initiative that brings new insight to the plethora of success stories presented.

Overall, the conference highlighted the need to share these success stories of collaboration to

increase awareness of its importance and to continue on a path of fostering greater collaboration and

involving more stakeholders.

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Taking the Evidence-based Approach to Community Health

Resources in todays world are scarce, and in the healthcare field this is no exception. As providers

strive to improve the health of their patients and community, they must be able to balance competing

demands on their time and resources. In order to avoid abandoning community health efforts in

favor of more immediate clinical patient demands, providers should utilize data and evidence-based

evaluations of proposed initiatives. Ultimately, data is at the heart of community health initiatives

it forms the basis for community health assessments and serves as the starting point for identifying

targeted solutions to population health problems, tracking their progress, and reporting meaningful

outcomes and ROI.

At the same time, healthcare and community professionals must always be aware of the dangers

and risks associated with misused or misunderstood data. Moving forward, a key challenge will

be identifying measurement standards for outcomes and goals that, at first sight, might seem

unmeasurable. This will allow stakeholders to more effectively extract evidence of ROI from any

community health initiative.

In sum, the conference sessions highlighted the importance of utilizing case studies and taking

advantage of all available data both at the individual the community levels. Data collection and

analytics, when properly used and shared among all stakeholders involved, can play a key role in

improving community health.

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Conclusion

The importance of improving community health is unquestionable, but achieving this will require a new

approach and increased collaboration among all stakeholders involved. These stakeholders include

healthcare providers, community and interfaith organizations, governmental and non-profit agencies,

facilities management, and building and construction organizations. To create healthier communities,

all of these groups must work together and share their unique experiences, skillsets and data. Events,

like this conference, are a great opportunity for professionals to connect and stay up-to-date with

industry knowledge, in order to achieve these goals.

Above all, the conference reaffirmed the path Sodexo has taken and the contributions Sodexo has

already made toward enhancing population and community health.

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Additional Resources

To learn more about the Association for Community Health Improvement, the annual conference, or the

contributions Sodexo has made to the three themes identified, the following resources may be of interest.

Association for Community Health Improvement website:

http://www.healthycommunities.org

Sodexo White Papers:

Communities for Health Launch Event Summary of Proceedings:

http://viewer.zmags.com/publication/dc43c72e

Going Beyond the Four Walls: Population Health Management Partnership Strategies MUSC &

Sodexo: http://viewer.zmags.com/publication/c8359abd

Access to Healthy Food: A Critical Strategy for Successful Population Health Management:

http://viewer.zmags.com/publication/2e5ddaa8

Using Big Data in Hospital Facilities Management to Enhance Employee Productivity and Quality

of Life: http://viewer.zmags.com/publication/3f45da2c

Sodexo Thought Leadership Library:

Additional Sodexo white papers on population health management and related topics can be found in the

Sodexo Thought Leadership Library: bit.ly/sodexothoughtleadership

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