Next Transformation in American Healthcare: Aligning Health and Healthcare

One of the main initiatives of the Health program at the Kresge Foundation is "Moving Health Care Upstream," which aims to  identify, support, and spread innovative health system strategies to improve community health.  The ACA includes several provisions that provide health systems with flexibility and incentives to partner in new ways with local health departments and a host of community-based organizations to achieve better health outcomes at lower per-capita costs, yet most of these efforts operate in isolation without any formal learning infrastructure to accelerate change.  Kresge is partnering with the UCLA Center for Healthier Children, Families and Communities and Nemours to build Collaborative Innovation Networks of leading place-based collaborations.  These networks will share their successes and challenges in population-focused reform implementation in a timely manner to accelerate the broader adoption of effective strategies that move health systems to reward community-based prevention and promote health equity.  Kresge is also providing direct support to local and regional innovators who are moving resources upstream to create healthier communities, and who have the potential to inform national replication strategies.

Our work in 2014 focused on developing inclusion criteria, recruiting local / regional innovators, and building the network.  Our work in 2015 and beyond will focus on accelerating systems innovation, identifying and sharing key lessons and outcomes, identifying the policy and financing implications of population health innovations, prioritizing community health in the post health-reform policy and practice environment, and developing messaging to support population health system advocacy agenda.  We welcome the input of other health funders, advocates, public health professionals and community-based practitioners as we build out the network.