Prevention Institute’s health systems transformation efforts focus on broadening out the definition of the health system to include all the organizations and sectors that contribute to people’s health. The health system in the United States is typically thought of as the network of hospitals, health plans, and community health centers where people receive clinical care. But the system that supports thriving and equitable communities is far broader. During the COVID-19 pandemic, public health agencies and the work they do to support community health, safety, and wellbeing were thrust into the spotlight. Community-based organizations also play a crucial role: during the pandemic, they provided food, financial support, eviction protection, ways to maintain social connection, and other basics that communities need in order to be healthy.

PI advocates for improved integration of all the elements of the system, increased financial support to keep the system stable, and changes to aspects of the system that are perpetuating health inequities and racial injustice. We collaborate with health system partners and to redesign and augment the existing system so that it prioritizes improved health outcomes for communities of color, immigrants, communities with low incomes, and other groups that the health system has previously neglected.

Community Prevention Policy and Practice

Prevention Institute works with partners across the country to advance prevention practice, and engages in legislative, administrative, and regulatory advocacy to support upstream prevention policies and investments that advance health, safety, and equity. Key projects and publications include:

  • Intersections Initiative

    The Intersections Initiative, funded by the St. Joseph Community Partnership Fund(link is external) and co-designed with Prevention Institute, provided four years of flexible funding and technical assistance to community-based organizations and coalitions exploring the roles healthcare and health system partners can play in upstream prevention. Intersections supported partners in seven California communities served by Providence-St. Joseph Health System(link is external) hospitals to advance health equity by addressing the conditions that shape health, safety, and wellbeing.

  • Advancing a System of Prevention to Achieve Health Equity

    We have an opportunity to take transformational steps to improve our health system—from one that emphasizes sick care to one that focuses on keeping people healthy in the first place, and addresses inequities in health and safety.

  • Beyond COVID-19 Recovery: Advancing a System of Prevention for Racial Justice and Health Equity

    Community members and racial justice advocates are collectively pursuing transformative solutions designed for equity and justice, which requires dismantling and replacing policies, practices, and investment patterns that reinforce structural racism.  Prevention Institute is joining this call to action through a body of work to advance a System of Prevention for Racial Justice and Health Equity that supports health, safety, and wellbeing.

  • COVID-19 Public Health and Equity Collaborative

    This collaborative is developing a COVID-19 policy agenda that takes the need for stable housing, mental health and wellbeing, food security, and equitable enforcement of emergency and public health powers into account. 
     

  • California Funders Workgroup for Prevention and Equity

    PI provides technical assistance and policy analysis to this California funders workgroup: Blue Shield of California Foundation, The California Endowment, The California Wellness Foundation, Sierra Health Foundation, St. Joseph Community Partnership Fund, and Well Being Trust. The group is working to articulate a shared vision for community prevention and health equity, identify and support community priorities, and invest in strategies to close gaps in health and safety.

  • Los Angeles County Integrated COVID Plan

    Prevention Institute’s Manal J. Aboelata is working with the Los Angeles County Departments of Public Health and Health Services to develop and implement a plan to reduce COVID-19 transmission—with a focus on health inequities in COVID-19 exposures and outcomes—and invest in community infrastructure.

  • American Academy of Family Physicians Lifestyle Medicine Project

    This initiative recognizes the importance of activities that take place outside of clinic walls in preventing and managing common conditions seen in family medicine. PI’s role will be to support family physicians in addressing social and environmental determinants of health.

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Community-Centered Health Homes

To improve health for everyone, we must transform community environments at the same time we provide high-quality, well-coordinated medical services. Developed by Prevention Institute in 2011, the Community-Centered Health Homes model shows how healthcare systems can support and engage in community prevention even as they continue to deliver high-quality clinical care. Key products and publications include:

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Health Delivery and Payment Transformation

Community prevention is a valuable strategy for reducing illness and injury in the first place while supporting the Triple Aim of improved population health, lower costs, and improved outcomes.  Prevention Institute envisions a transformed health delivery and payment system that advances health and equity through quality community-based prevention practices. Key products and publications include:

  • Accountable Communities for Health: Opportunities and Recommendations

    The Accountable Community for Health model is emerging as a promising vehicle toward reaching the full potential of the Triple Aim-particularly efforts to improve population health. Accountable Communities for Health: Opportunities and Recommendations, Prevention Institute's report for the state of Vermont, presents research and analysis conducted by Prevention Institute to inform the potential development and application of the Accountable Community for Health (ACH) model.

  • Disrupting the Pathway - A Prevention Approach to Medical High Utilization

    Disrupting the Pathway explores a primary prevention approach to reduce frequent utilization of high-cost healthcare services and includes model strategies that healthcare organizations and their community partners can collectively implement to improve community conditions that have a role in producing high utilization and subsequent costs. 

  • Closing the Loop: Why We Need to Invest—and Reinvest—in Prevention

    Published by the Institute of Medicine’s Roundtable on Population Health Improvement, Closing the Loop outlines some of the essential elements of sustainable funding mechanisms and argues that we need to “close the loop” by ensuring that when prevention efforts DO save money, substantial portions of that money get plowed back into prevention.  

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