The National Quality Forum is seeking public comment on a draft of its Community Action Guide, a resource to help communities start or improve their population health programs.
The guide was developed by a multi-stakeholder committee and is part of a three-year, HHS-funded project that aims to enhance population health programs across the nation. The guide offers "plain language guidance to help communities work with their local public health and clinical care systems to improve health," said Kaye Bender, PhD, RN, Public Health Accreditation Board and co-chair of the Population Health Framework committee, in a news release.
The Community Action Guide is structured around 10 key elements:
1. Self-assessment of readiness
2. Leadership across the region and within organization
3. An organizational planning and priority-setting process
4. A community health needs assessment and asset mapping process
5. A prioritized set of health improvement activities
6. Selection and use of measures and performance targets
7. Audience-specific strategic communication
8. Joint reporting on progress
9. Indications of scalability
10. A plan for sustainability
Each element has an explanation of key steps and recommendations on how they can be accomplished.
"Our goal is for this guide to be useful to all communities committed to improving health, which is why it is essential to initiate a national dialogue that surfaces important improvements to it," said Catherine Baase, MD, a committee member and global director of health services for The Dow Chemical Co. and chairperson of the Michigan Health Information Alliance, in the release. "The feedback we receive through this comment period will play an integral role in the development of what we believe will be an invaluable community resource."
The guide is available through April 16 for public comment.
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