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Goal:

Objectives:

• Support model community-based public/private partnerships that ensure access for all populations, including the most vulnerable, to core public health services.
• Support a restructuring of organizations and/or resource allocations to address improved population health.
• Provide direct services including new programs and policies that contribute directly to improvement in population health.

Accomplishments:

• The establishment of multisector collaboratives to address comprehensive, integrated preventive services. The Health Partnership Program was composed of 15 collaboratives representing California’s geographic diversity. Cohort 1 represented nine health partnerships that addressed five primary objectives: direct preventive services, systems change, population health measurement, governance and sustainability. Cohort 2 represented four collaboratives that addressed direct preventive services and one of the five primary objectives above. Cohort 3 represented two health partnerships that addressed capacity building.
• The provision of preventive health services. Residents in participating HII communities now have improved access to direct preventive services. Among Cohort 1 grantees, the number of preventive health services increased substantially over the life of the Initiative, with 17,855 high-intensity services provided (e.g., case management, immunization and mentoring); 40,488 medium-intensity services (e.g., screening, counseling, HIV testing, consulting and referrals); and 36,040 low-intensity services (e.g., dental care and cleaning, in-home safety checks and health education).
• System and service integration of preventive services. By the end of the Initiative, Cohort 1 health partnerships fully implemented 21 systems change initiatives in five sites and nine systems change initiatives were still in process. Systems change is defined as permanent changes in the way the systems of preventive services are organized and delivered in the community that have potential to lead to population health improvements. Within the HII, systems change activities were grouped into four major areas: service integration, results-based budgeting, data integration and policy development.
• Population health measurement and policy development. Each Cohort I health partnership completed three local health improvement surveys and four sites subsequently published and/or advanced policy directives. Seven Cohort 1 and two Cohort 2 health partnerships also developed community/county-level report cards intended to track long-term health outcomes. The process and outcomes of each health partnership’s workplan also benefited from formative evaluation feedback provided by the Initiative evaluation.
• The development and recognition of local leadership. Each health partnership functioned as a collaborative with stable response patterns in governance satisfaction, decisionmaking and the establishment of new community linkages as reported by the overall HII evaluation governance surveys. Resident involvement and leadership recognition was achieved through the public acknowledgement of Public Health Champions within each health partnership. The program recognized and acknowledged the role of community residents in identifying the systems issues in need of change and their involvement to assist in the change process to affect population health.
• Leveraged resources and sustainability. Continuation of the health partnerships’ work was a major objective of the HII. By the end of the Initiative, a range of sustainability options were being implemented including the transition from collaboratives to nonprofit organizations, involvement in new philanthropic initiatives, and the procurement of new financial resources to support aspects of the health partnership workplan that continue population health improvement efforts. Collectively, the work of the health partnerships generated an additional $6.67 million in grants and contracts.