Trenton Health Team Tapped to Test and Enhance Population Health Guide Created by National Quality Forum
Trenton, NJ (PRWEB) December 11, 2014 -- The Trenton Health Team has been selected as one of 10 organizations nationwide to field test actions designed to improve the health of their communities. The prestigious National Quality Forum has tapped THT and nine other innovative health and healthcare groups to work together in testing its Action Guide 1.0, a practical resource drafted earlier this year based on research and information from experts about effective approaches to improving population health.
“The Trenton Health Team has a number of collaborative projects underway that tie to population health, providing excellent opportunities to benefit from the content in the Action Guide and provide feedback that will help the guide evolve into an even more robust resource,” said Dr. Ruth Perry, executive director of THT.
The NQF’s Action Guide covers ten elements important to improving population health through efforts at any level. The guide also includes tools for assessing population health status and measuring progress along the way as well as links to other useful resources.
Field testing is the next phase of development for the Action Guide. In Trenton and nine other communities, the guide’s usefulness will be tested in real-world situations where efforts to improve health are actually taking place. Field testing groups will provide feedback and ideas for revised or new content to the NQF team and the committee of diverse stakeholders that drafted the original guide. Both the guide and the field-testing are part of a three-year NQF project sponsored by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
While the field testing is underway, the groups will have the opportunity to learn from one another and the multi-stakeholder committee in a two-way learning process that NQF says may ultimately impact regional and national population health resources with the aim of making them more easy and effective to use.
Dr. Perry said the THT welcomes the opportunity to collaborate more broadly with the other field testing groups.
“There are many different ways to address the health needs of different populations, so we are always ready to share our ideas and learn about what others are doing in the communities they serve,” she added.
Community efforts and interventions to improve social, economic, and environmental factors that impact health are priorities of the HHS’s National Quality Strategy. Evidence suggests that effective programs and policies that promote health can prevent disease and yield billions of dollars in savings for the U.S. healthcare system.
The 10 selected field testing groups are geographically and substantively diverse and include:
Colorado Department of Health Care Policy and Financing (HCPF) – Denver, CO
Community Service Council of Tulsa – Tulsa, OK
Designing a Strong and Healthy NY (DASH-NY) – New York, NY
Empire Health Foundation – Spokane, WA
Kanawha Coalition for Community Health Improvement – Charleston, WV
Mercy Medical Center and Abbe Center for Mental Health – Cedar Rapids, IA
Michigan Health Improvement Alliance – 14 County Region in Central Michigan
Oberlin Community Services and The Institute for eHealth Equity – Oberlin, OH
Trenton Health Team, Inc. – Trenton, NJ
The University of Chicago Medicine Population Health Management Transformation – Chicago, IL
About the National Quality Forum
The National Quality Forum (NQF) is a not-for-profit, nonpartisan, membership-based organization leads national collaboration to improve health and healthcare quality through measurement. NQF endorsement is considered the gold standard for healthcare quality. Learn more at http://www.qualityforum.org.
About the Trenton Health Team
Trenton Health Team (THT) is an alliance of the city's major providers of healthcare services including Capital Health, St. Francis Medical Center, Henry J. Austin Health Center and the city's Health Department. In collaboration with residents and the city's active social services network, THT is developing an integrated healthcare delivery system to transform the city's fragmented primary care system and restore health to the city. THT aims to make Trenton the healthiest city in the state. The THT receives generous support from The Nicholson Foundation, corporate partners and other foundations. For more information,visit http://www.trentonhealthteam.org
Media queries, please contact: Becky Taylor, 609-240-6886, or becky(at)btaylorpa(dot)com
Becky Taylor, 609 240 6886, [email protected]
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