Like many health funders across the country, the Episcopal Health Foundation (EHF) is investing in health system transformation through use of population health, community prevention interventions, and value-based payment systems. The justification for doing so is solidly based: population health is mostly shaped by social determinants of health. When we neglect to take into account the health impact of our policy, regulation, planning, and other decisions (in, for example, enforcement of housing policies, ensuring that transportation supports access to healthy food for low-income groups, or designing healthy suburbs), we are not accounting for the true cost of those decisions, and we are suggesting that it is fair to expect the health system to pick up the costs of harms that could have been prevented, often easily.

In addition to getting health system structures and incentives right, we need system leadership and on-the-ground skills to provide both high-quality health care services and high-quality prevention. Through a four-year, $10 million investment by EHF, the Texas Community Centered Health Homes (CCHH) Initiative is actively funding clinics to address underlying community conditions that affect health. EHF has worked with Prevention Institute for the past year to further develop and implement the CCHH model with thirteen community-based clinics in Texas.

A CCHH clinic not only acknowledges that community conditions outside the clinic walls affect patient outcomes, but also actively participates in improving those conditions. The CCHH approach creates more active roles for clinics in improving the health of both patients and neighborhoods, going beyond individual-level interventions to now promote change at the systems and community levels. Through partnerships with a variety of organizations, such as government agencies, health and human services groups, or business organizations, clinics engage in prevention strategies to improve population health.

To read more of Lexi Nolan's article, please click here.