New Toolkit Helps Hospitals Find, Develop Population Health Leaders

WASHINGTON, March 20, 2019 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- As essential hospitals help communities cope with homelessness, food insecurity, and other social, economic, and environmental factors that affect health, they face a growing need for professionals who can lead initiatives to improve health at the population level.

But how do these hospitals find and assess the best candidates for this important role? America's Essential Hospitals and its research arm, Essential Hospitals Institute, offer one answer: a new toolkit developed with support from The Kresge Foundation.

The new document, Population Health Leadership at Essential Hospitals—A Toolkit for Hiring and Evaluating Population Health Executives, details a core skill set and hiring considerations for population health executives. The toolkit also provides a template job description and skill assessment worksheets. America's Essential Hospitals developed the toolkit to help its 300 member hospitals build the workforce and leadership they need to have the greatest impact on health in the neighborhoods they serve.

"We've seen a shift over the years at our hospitals to make social determinants of health a priority and to work outside their walls, often with community partners, to improve health," says Bruce Siegel, MD, MPH, president and CEO of America's Essential Hospitals. "But this still is a new approach for many hospitals, and they might lack the infrastructure and personnel they need. Our toolkit can help them fill those gaps."

The association produced the toolkit in the first phase of an ongoing, 24-month project to help essential hospitals develop a population health workforce. Through focus groups, interviews, and a stakeholder summit, the first phase built a foundation of information for subsequent work to develop population health leadership training.

Kalpana Ramiah, DrPH, Institute director and association vice president of innovation, says the toolkit is the first of its kind. "We plan to provide essential hospitals with the information and support they need to develop human capital for population health," she says. "Despite all the attention on population health in the field today, this information isn't out there in a centralized, accessible way. Our hope is that with this resource, hospitals can do even more to improve the health of their communities."

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About America's Essential Hospitals
America's Essential Hospitals is the leading champion for hospitals and health systems dedicated to high-quality care for all, including the most vulnerable. We support our more than 300 members with advocacy, policy development, research, and education. Communities depend on essential hospitals to provide specialized, lifesaving services; train the health care workforce; advance public health and health equity; and coordinate care. Essential hospitals innovate and adapt to lead the way to more effective and efficient care. Learn more at essentialhospitals.org.

About Essential Hospitals Institute
Essential Hospitals Institute is the research and education arm of America's Essential Hospitals. The Institute supports the nation's essential hospitals as they provide high-quality, equitable, and affordable care to their communities. Working with members of America's Essential Hospitals, we identify promising practices from the field, conduct research, disseminate innovative strategies, and help our members improve their organizational performance. We do all of this with an eye toward improving individual and population health, especially for vulnerable people.

SOURCE Essential Hospitals Institute