A group that includes Ascension's Providence in Washington, D.C., is part of a new pilot project designed to improve community health.
The group – the District of Columbia Healthy Communities Collaborative, or DCHCC – consists of four hospitals and four community health centers, including founding member Providence. The pilot is the Learning Collaborative for Community Health Improvement (CHI), a program of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Through this project, Providence will have access to new resources including the CDC CHI Navigator – a website that offers community stakeholders expert-vetted tools and resources for depicting visually the who, what, where, and how of improving community health; making the case for collaborative approaches to community health improvement; establishing and maintaining effective collaborations; and finding interventions that work for the greatest impact on health and well-being for all.
These tools will help strengthen Providence's ability to conduct an effective, collaborative process that will yield a community health improvement plan (CHIP). The CHIP is an IRS requirement for all not-for-profit hospitals in response to their community health needs assessment.
For the next six months, representatives from the DCHCC, including Providence, will receive:
- Training and group technical assistance through a series of webinars and conference calls from national community health improvement experts;
- Facilitated peer-to-peer sharing and learning with other CHI partnerships;
- Travel support to attend a national Association for Community Health Improvement conference; and,
- Opportunities to provide feedback to improve and strengthen the CDC CHI Navigator role.
"Providence is committed to developing a community-based clinically integrated system of care, and community health improvement planning is essential to our strategic vision," said Ruth Pollard, Assistant Vice President, Community Health & Government Relations, Providence. "We're able to listen to the needs of our community through the community health needs assessment process, and we're better able to respond in a way that values the community and creates opportunity for Providence to develop innovative solutions and deliver meaningful care."
