What We Do

We work with health systems, community clinics and public health departments that are working to advance health equity. We partner with both administrative and clinical leaders to develop system-wide strategic initiatives that meet the health needs of all patients and improve health outcomes. This includes coordinating organizational assessments, training for inclusive and culturally effective care, and facilitating engagement with historically under-resourced communities.

Download our capabilities brochure

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Advancing Health Equity

 

In 2023, Impact4Health was one of three organizations nationwide to be named an Equity Transformation Partner for the American Hospital Association’s Institute for Diversity and Health Equity. In this role we work with health systems that have started the Health Equity Roadmap. We review the results of the Health Equity Transformation Assessment (HETA) to determine where a site rests on the AHA maturity index: Exploring, Committing, Immersing, Affirming, and Transforming. Regardless of the stage a health system may be in today, our teams work to identify the best practices that can be refined or implemented in order to move to the next stage. Our focus can center on building the site’s DEI infrastructure, collecting more accurate patient data, improving employee engagement, fostering new community relations, or addressing the social determinants of health. Throughout this work we leverage our Inclusion Scorecard for Population Health™ to track progress on best practices that are being implemented.

Download our menu of services to support completing the Health Equity Roadmap

 

The Inclusion SCORECARD for Population Health™ is an interactive on-line dashboard of best practices that health systems can use to address health care inequities, organized into four distinct focus areas:

  1. Tracking key metrics about the population served and the overall diversity

  2. Building a culture of inclusion throughout the health system

  3. Creating greater accountability among leaders to address health disparities

  4. Developing higher engagement with diverse community stakeholders

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The Scorecard inspires greater coordinated and systematic approaches to address patients in diverse communities. It includes key data to collect about patients and the communities where they live and work. It identifies strategies to engage community partners in healthcare coordination, upstream social determinants of health or health education. As more health systems adopt new reimbursement models and strive for value based care, a significant paradigm shift in healthcare must take place. The Scorecard plays an integral role in a site’s effort to achieve the Quadruple Aim: better care, better patient experience, lowered costs and improved provider experience. Healthcare is no longer solely about what happens inside a facility—health outcomes are inextricably linked to the social determinants of health, culturally effective care, patient engagement and community resiliency. Watch a quick 2 minute video on how it’s used or download the Executive Summary for more information.

How the Scorecard works

Key phases of implementation

Board Engagement on Health Equity

The Board of Trustees of a hospital are essential in the journey to advance health equity. We encourage boards to complete our Board Health Equity Readiness Survey to determine what specific assistance members may need to understand and align on the work to be done. Impact4Health can provide executive education on health equity, the role unconscious bias plays in medicine, and on understanding culturally effective care during a meeting or at an off-site.

Establishing HEDI Council

A member of the Board and an Executive leader sponsors a Health Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Council to oversee implementation of the current state analysis using the Scorecard. The members of the Council can be other senior leaders, staff, subject matter experts and community stakeholders that identify key best practices to review. Impact4Health can train internal staff to conduct the analysis or conduct the analysis on key items.

Using the Current State Analysis to Develop a Strategy

The assessment process in the Scorecard includes identifying a target future state for key activities. The summary can then be integrated into an existing strategic plan or serve as a standalone strategy. Most systems identify key data that will be collected to track health inequities and new activities to support a culture of inclusion that aligns with their vision of being a provider and employer of choice.

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Healthcare Staff Training

Inclusive Leadership

The Inclusive Leader Workshop is a facilitator lead session that draws a link between inclusion, engagement, productivity, retention and health equity. It can be offered as an independent half day or full day workshop or as part of an internal Leadership Academy. Participants may also complete the Inclusive Leader self-profile or the Inclusive Leader 360 prior to attending and receive a 30 page interpretive guide featuring key ways to develop the 5 dimensions of an inclusive leader. The facilitator lead workshop emphasizes vignettes or case studies that can be applied to both clinical and administrative staff.

Q+CARE Quality + Culturally Appropriate Response for Equity™

Q+CARE is a program to raise awareness about unconscious bias with physicians in clinical settings. This program is customized to include reference and integration of a health system mission and values. Key strategies for mitigating unconscious bias in daily practice are emphasized. Vignettes and case studies are used to reinforce learning. Customized versions of this course have been used at health systems for Continuing Medical Education credits (.75 for a 50 minute session).

Health Equity Rounds

Health Equity Rounds bring health equity discussions into everyday practice. Dr. Italo Brown partners with Impact4Health to deliver a 2-hour workshop on creating a Safe SPACE for Health Equity Rounds. This program includes an overview of how bias of all forms impact clinical decisions, the patient experience, and health outcomes.

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Executive Education on Inclusion

Inclusive Leader 360: Making the Unconscious Conscious

The Inclusive Leader Executive Program is a comprehensive program that combines coaching, self-guided exercises and facilitator lead leader dialogues that are completed over the course of a 3 month timeline. The Inclusive Leader 360 is the only product of its kind on the market and is completed at the beginning of the program. Executives receive their results as in a traditional 360 using scores by peers, direct reports and their boss. In addition the IL360 provides results by gender, generation, and ethnicity to pinpoint how their unconscious bias may be experienced among diverse colleagues, staff or other stakeholders. Individual coaching and leader dialogues support an awareness of engaging diverse individuals effectively, having difficult conversations about race and racism, and how organizational excellence is linked to a culture of inclusion where everyone feels they belong. Further attention is given to privilege, anti-racism, and the importance of sponsoring diverse individuals.

The Inclusive Leader Self Profile

The Self Profile contains the same items as the IL360 but is completed only by the individual leaders. This tool can be integrated into an existing training program or to supplement other training that Impact4Health customizes for your team. Some of the sample content that can be created includes:

  • Reducing Unconscious Bias

  • Creating a Culture of Inclusion

  • Engaging as Allies

  • Anti-Racism and Bias Interrupters

  • Power and Privilege for Sponsoring Diverse Individuals

Contact Us to learn more

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Community & Stakeholder engagement

Community engagement, patient outreach and education are all key components of effective stakeholder relations for health systems, public health departments, and community clinics. Impact4Health brings unique expertise in order to address diverse patient populations and their concerns for quality care. We partner with your senior leadership team and public relations staff to design a full range of solutions that support effective dialog, issue management, and strategic planning.

Some of the activities we have been asked to support include:

Community Advisory Councils

Impact4Health partners with institutions to identify key sectors of a community that need to be engaged in patient education, community programs or key issue management. Once members of your advisory council are identified, we will provide on-boarding support to insure participants have productive meetings and address community concerns. In addition we provide ongoing meeting facilitation and strategic planning.

Patient and Family Advisory Councils

Many systems seeking to engage diverse patient populations are finding Patient and Family Advisory Councils bring the “voice of the consumer” to important dialogue on service delivery strategies, care coordination needs or program design. These Councils can play a central role in providing patient centered care. Impact4Health can support these efforts with tailored outreach to recruit key participants, orientation for staff and participants, ongoing facilitation and document the success of the Councils.

Patient Outreach

Identifying key patients that need to be served is a first step in serving diverse communities. Once identified, engaging them in key programs to address their needs is often more of a challenge. Impact4Health can partner with your staff to identify the best inroads to key communities and develop the right messaging to support your key initiatives. Careful attention is given to language, culture, and community stakeholders that can partner to effectively reach key populations with strategies to support disease management (i.e. diabetes, asthma, behavioral health, or cancer screenings).

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Choice Points 4 Health
Choice Points 4 Health
 

Wellbeing and the Workplace

The choices we make and that others make for us impact our health and wellbeing each day. A growing number of employers are recognizing this link and have begun exploring how to ensure work routines, policies, or programs support employee wellbeing—especially in light of mounting evidence that employee health and mental health continue to struggle during and after the pandemic.

The Leader’s Role in Employee Wellness

In response to increased workplace stress, lost productivity and high turnover rates, organizational leaders must make integrated wellbeing and belonging initiatives a high priority using culturally effective strategies for all employees, at all levels of the organization. The good news is that encouraging employee wellbeing can be integrated into effective leadership at every level—from team leads to the c-suite.

Our Approach

Impact4Health has developed a unique approach to inspire a dynamic approach to wellbeing and belonging at work that focuses on the root causes of burnout and workplace stress. ChoicePoints4Health™ (CP4H) centers on building an awareness of the choices that we make for ourselves and the choices our leaders and organizations make that impact our engagement, productivity, retention and innovation. The program then highlights meaningful steps for leaders to take that recognize and foster employee awareness of the ChoicePoints4Health™ that are linked to healthy eating, movement, social connection and mindfulness.

Our Core Message for Participants

Employees—when given the opportunity to create their own work routines to manage the pace of work, engage in mind-body training, build a sense of community with others and participate in some outside activity that gives their life meaning—are more likely to be healthier and effective at work. ChoicePoints4Health™ (CP4H) includes leader dialogues and intact team facilitated discussions, surrounded by an employee inspired story-telling campaign that features unique ways each person is achieving physical and emotional wellbeing and what inspires a sense of belonging.

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Pay for Success

About Pay for Success and Our Past Involvement

Pay for Success (PFS) Initiatives are viewed by the White House Office of Social Innovation and Civic Participation as an opportunity to bring together philanthropic and private sector investors to address long standing social issues. In the US today, four PFS projects are in various stages of engaging private investors, foundations and public agencies to address homelessness, access to early childhood education, recidivism and asthma. 

A unique model for PFS initiatives that engages private investors and payors is emerging to reduce asthma related emergencies and improve overall quality of life. This model has the potential to also be used to address the needs of patients with diabetes, and heart disease. Pay for Success Initiatives are designed to take proven interventions and attract private investors to scale them to serve larger populations. 

Key Phases of the Pay for Success Initiative

Phase 1: Secure Startup-Grant

  • Begin development and design (funded by foundation support )

  • Identify target population and determine interventions

  • Identify savings potential attributed to intervention and confirm value proposition and interest from payers

  • Engage community stakeholders (community population, healthcare, public health, businesses, policy-makers, schools, etc)

Phase 2: Secure Capital

  • Identify investors and end payors

  • Establish Sustainable Shared Savings Health Impact Fund

  • Create PFS contract agreements with intervention providers, investors and payers

Phase 3: Scale the Intervention

  • Implement intervention

  • Track outcomes

  • Continue to engage community stakeholders

Phase 4: Evaluate and Validate Savings from Intervention

  • Use independent evaluator to validate health care cost savings

  • Regular process updates to stakeholders

Phase 5: End Payors Make Payment

  • End payors pay investors principal plus interest and reinvest in fund (optional/may not be required)

 

Pay for Success Project Knowledge Base

A site designed to support the various projects that we manage to promote health equity throughout the nation.