Disclaimer: Moving Health Care Upstream is a collaborative effort co-led by Nemours Children’s Health System (Nemours) and the Center for Healthier Children, Families & Communities at the University of California- Los Angeles (UCLA). The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Nemours, UCLA or the Moving Health Care Upstream initia

For the past two years, Moving Health Care Upstream’s Policy Learning Lab has provided technical assistance to teams focused on food insecurity in their communities, helping them leverage local and organizational policy to address food insecurity on a community-wide scale. In this newsletter, we feature two resources that have been useful to our teams: the Healthy Food Access Portal and the Hunger Vital Sign National Community of Practice. Additional food insecurity resources, including a copy of technical assistance provided to each team in MHCU’s Policy Learning Lab, are available HERE. [Read more…]

Disclaimer: Moving Health Care Upstream is a collaborative effort co-led by Nemours Children’s Health System (Nemours) and the Center for Healthier Children, Families & Communities at the University of California- Los Angeles (UCLA). The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Nemours, UCLA or the Moving Health Care Upstream initiative.

Let Your Work Inspire Others

Start the new year by sharing your upstream work with others. Submissions are always welcome for the “Examples in Action” pages of MHCU’s website- which contains self-submitted examples of upstream work being done by health systems with their community partners. Email MHCU@nemours.org for information.

Spotlight on New Tools & Resources

Working on Health Literacy? Nationwide Children’s Hospital created interactive web-based activities to teach teens (and others) how to assess the trustworthiness of health information sources online. Now available as part of Nemours Children’s Health System’s adolescent health literacy lesson plans: Navigating the Health Care System.

Measuring the Health Outcomes Liked to Healthy Housing– check out this recent blog post from Build Healthy Places Network for details on the Healthy Housing Outcomes Survey- which lets users measure changes in resident health outcomes most likely to be influenced by healthy housing development.

Thinking about financing for your upstream work? ReThink Health recently released “Beyond the Grant”. The workbook offers modules with practical, user-friendly tools to answer common financing questions and develop action plans for moving beyond the grant.

[Read more…]

Written by guest authors: Peter Eckart, Jenna Frkovich and Kyu Kang; Data Across Sectors for Health (DASH)

Disclaimer: Moving Health Care Upstream is a collaborative effort co-led by Nemours Children’s Health System (Nemours) and the Center for Healthier Children, Families & Communities at the University of California- Los Angeles (UCLA). The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Nemours, UCLA or the Moving Health Care Upstream initiative.

Many organizations in the Moving Health Care Upstream network are actively working through the challenges and considerations of cross-sector data sharing. With these organizations in mind, we are dedicating this blog post to a spotlight on the All In: Data for Community Health Network. Read on to learn how you can connect with, and learn from, other cross-sector partnerships via this vibrant, highly valuable network.

Sharing Data Across Sectors to Transform Community Health

All In: Data for Community Health is a learning network of 100+ communities across the U.S. that are testing exciting new ways to systematically improve community health outcomes through multi-sector partnerships working to share data. Much like Moving Health Care Upstream (MHCU), All In is part of a growing movement to tackle the upstream causes of poor health by strengthening connections between health care and other sectors such as housing, social services, and education.

All In was founded on the idea that we can accelerate progress towards addressing social determinants of health if fellow “innovators” and “upstreamists” share and learn from each other’s failures and successes. If you’re facing data sharing challenges in your community and could use extra guidance and support, All In can connect you to the right tools, resources, and expertise to help advance your effort.

[Read more…]

Written by Kate Blackburn, MSW; Senior Program & Policy Analyst; Nemours Children’s Health System

Disclaimer: Moving Health Care Upstream is a collaborative effort co-led by Nemours Children’s Health System (Nemours) and the Center for Healthier Children, Families & Communities at the University of California- Los Angeles (UCLA). The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Nemours, UCLA or the Moving Health Care Upstream initiative.

Research demonstrates that improving population health and achieving health equity also will require broader approaches that address social, economic, and environmental factors that influence health – the “upstream,” root causes of disease. Health systems can address persistent and costly health inequities by moving beyond the walls of hospitals and doctor’s offices and into the communities, collaborating with community-based organizations to address the root causes of disease. [Read more…]