Educational Webinars

The Association for Community Health Improvement produces nine or more educational webinars each year. These sessions address a range of topics, including: population health improvement and chronic disease prevention, access to care, community benefit programs and reporting, community health assessment, collaborative strategies, and outcomes measurement and evaluation.

2012 Dates:   

February 16 | April 19 | May 17 | June 21 | ... and additional dates to be announced

2011 Dates:   

January 20 | February 17 | May 19 | July 21 | August 24 | October 20 | November 3 | November 16 | December 8 

Time (unless otherwise noted): 11:00-12:00 (Pacific Time); 12:00-1:00 (MT); 1:00-2:00 (CT); 2:00-3:00 (ET)

Registration Fee: $49 (members) | $89 (non-members)

Registrants receive a confirmation e-mail immediately upon registering by "purchasing" the webinar in ACHI's Online Store.  This confirmation will contain the information needed to log-in/dial-in on the day of the session. Members must be logged in to receive the member rate.

(See descriptions of ACHI's 2010 webinars.)

---

Did you miss a webinar? ACHI offers recordings and slides from select webinars.

---

February 16, 2012
A Regional, Multi-System Approach for Assessing Community Health Needs

	Judith Warren, MPH Executive Director Health Care Access Now Cincinnati, OH (Read Judith's bio)
	Stephanie Marshall, MS, MBA CHNA Project Manager Health Care Access Now (Read Stephanie's bio)
	Kathy Lordo, MPA Assistant Health Commissioner Hamilton County General Health District Cincinnati, OH (Read Kathy's bio)

In this case example session, presenters will describe their collaborative work to conduct a nine-county community health needs assessment based on a locally-developed model, A.I.M. (Ask. Inform. Make a Difference) for Better Health. A.I.M. for Better Health provides an opportunity for hospitals, public health departments, and community health organizations to conduct a comprehensive and broad-based assessment of the population's health needs, and to improve health status.

Supported by engaged funding partners (including the Greater Cincinnati Health Council (hospital association), Hamilton County Public Health, United Way of Greater Cincinnati, and the Greater Cincinnati Foundation), the assessment has strengthened partnerships to develop strategic programs addressing unmet health needs of several under-represented sub-populations.

Presenters will describe the assessment methodology, including their approach to secondary data analysis and primary data collection using community-based participatory research techniques. Preliminary findings will be highlighted, along with a discussion of how participating organizations will pursue a shared implementation plan.

At the conclusion of this session, participants will have learned:

• the steps used in developing and administering a four-tiered community health needs assessment;
• the various aspects of collecting, analyzing, and reporting primary and secondary data on both regional and county levels;
• strategies for engaging multiple hospitals, public health agencies and funders to form a community health assessment collaborative; and
• use of mapping tools to display and archive data for community use.

Certified Health Education Specialists: This session carries one continuing education contact hour with the National Commission for Health Education Credentialing, specifcially related to Competencies 1.1, 1.2 and 1.3.  ACHI's Multiple Event Provider number is MEP3728, and this is event 01001. After registering, the confirmation message you receive will contain instructions for documenting your participation.

(Please note: This is a new registration system. Members must be logged in to receive the member rate. Non-members will create an account in the Online Store. Once the registration is complete, you will receive an automated confirmation that contains the log-in/dial-in information for the day of the session.)

---

December 8, 2011
Moving from Community Assessment to Priorities and Action in a Hospital-Public Health Collaboration

	Karen Hansen, BS Manager, Marketing & Community Relations Hudson Hospital & Clinics Hudson, WI Read Karen's bio
	Wendy Kramer, BSN, RN Health Officer St. Croix County Public Health New Richmond, WI Read Wendy's bio

Many factors influence the health and well-being of a community, and one can measure health in many ways. This session offers a case example in: conducting a community health needs assessment; building community capacity and strengthening partnerships among hospitals, public health and community organizations; and moving from assessment of needs to action for solutions through the creation of a community health improvement plan.

Members of Healthier Together - St. Croix County have worked together for several years to better understand current and future health needs, in a process facilitated by Hudson Hospital & Clinics and St. Croix County Public Health. Taking a strategic, community-based approach, the hospital and public health agency work with a steering committee representing diverse community organizations to provide oversight and guidance to efforts that better align community partners around health improvement activities. Join this session to learn about their journey from a community collaborative to a 2009 needs assessment followed by a 2011 multi-year plan, and what they see as next steps and potential improvements.

At the conclusion of this session, participants will:

1. understand the approach taken and main components of Healthier Together - St. Croix County's community health needs assessment, including the hospital's role;
2. be able to describe the steps taken to move from assessment findings to priorities, a strategic framework, and a community health improvement plan; and
3. have learned how a community-wide collaborative approach strengthened the assessment and planning process, as well as community engagement in follow-up actions.

---

November 16, 2011 
Integrating Health Care, Public Health, and Communities to Improve Population Health

	Yvonne Goldsberry, PhD, MPH Senior Director, Community Health Cheshire Medical Center/Dartmouth-Hitchcock Keene Keene, NH Read Yvonne's bio
	Rudolph Fedrizzi, MD Director, Community Health Clinical Integration Cheshire Medical Center/Dartmouth-Hitchcock Keene Keene, NH Read Rudy's bio

The American public health and medical care systems have traditionally existed as parallel efforts, each making distinct contributions to health. On their own, neither the public health system nor the health care system can comprehensively address the multitude of factors leading to the burden of chronic disease or the myriad of challenges to improving a community's health. Recognizing the importance of integrating the work of both approaches, the 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act includes several provisions to advance collaborative efforts to reduce the impact of chronic disease and promote prevention strategies. Transitioning to a more collaborative model and aligning the skills and resources of both sectors towards common goals takes leadership, patience, and culture change.

In 2006, Cheshire County, New Hampshire (population 77,000) committed to becoming the healthiest community in the nation by 2020. This hospital-guided and community-embraced initiative provides the shared purpose to accelerate our already robust local collaboration efforts and promote system integration to produce healthier population outcomes. Session participants will explore a model for integration that offers a guiding strategy for engaging our local public health resources, advancing our community health improvement activities, and building partnerships across systems. We will describe the process of linking clinical care to existing and planned community-based efforts through a case study of our integrated Advocates for Healthy Youth obesity prevention coalition.

At the conclusion of this presentation, participants will be able to:

1. Describe and replicate a model of integration that encourages the leadership and culture change necessary to produce healthier population outcomes.
2. Appreciate the advantage of a shared community health improvement vision as a fundamental step to promoting and sustaining collaboration between a local public health and health care system.
3. Explore key elements of integration at the community level that promote and sustain collaborative work between the public health and health care sectors that may be implemented in the participant's organization or community.

---

November 3, 2011
Integrating Local Resources to Deliver Better Care: A Successful Approach to Improving Health

Connie Kerrigan, RN, BSN Manager of Community Health Nursing and Women's Services Parkview Hospital Fort Wayne, IN   Read Connie's bio

In this age of budget cuts and rising health costs, it is imperative that hospitals, social service agencies and community organizations team up effectively to meet local community health needs and provide responsive, comprehensive and accessible health care options to even the most disadvantaged in the community.

This webinar will draw on the experience and success of 2011 AHA NOVA Award winner Parkview Health System's Integrated Community Nursing Program in bringing together schools, non-profit social service agencies, foundations, government agencies and programs, and the local Board of Health to identify and meet community health needs and provide an integrated web of services.  These services include health screenings, immunizations, referrals, home visits, health care plans, follow-up, community and family education, financial assistance, and connection to a medical home. 

The session will demonstrate ways that hospitals are able to establish and implement larger and more far-reaching programs by forging community collaborations, than can be achieved by working alone.  Using real-life examples of numerous successful collaborations that have improved community health and well-being, the presenter will discuss the elements needed to forge meaningful community partnerships and plan collaborative projects to meet a community's identified needs.

At the conclusion of this session, participants will understand:

1. How and why Parkview forged meaningful community collaborations that led to a successful community outreach program;
2. The range and value of Parkview's community nursing-based program strategy; and
3. Approaches and methods used to create the buy-in and involvement at all levels (board, leadership, community groups) that has been integral to program success.

---

October 20, 2011
Making Strategic Health Investments in Communities: The Issue of "Dose" or Intervention Strength

	Pamela Schwartz, MPH Director, Program Evaluation Kaiser Permanente Oakland, CA Read Pamela's bio
	Allen Cheadle, PhD Director, Center for Community Health and Evaluation Group Health Research Institute Seattle, WA Read Allen's bio

At a time of unparalleled investment in community based prevention, it is incumbent upon those involved in prevention efforts, including practitioners, evaluators and funders, to demonstrate the impact of our work. The ultimate goal of many of these initiatives is to improve health at a population level; that is, to improve the health of a neighborhood, city or county. Achieving such an impact requires "high population dose" intervention activities, i.e. those that 1) reach a significant number of people, and 2) are strong enough to produce a measurable change in the health or health behaviors of those reached. This can be especially challenging for policy and environmental change initiatives that may be targeting, for instance, the built environment or school nutrition and physical activity policies.

Kaiser Permanente's experience with many community health initiatives is that while specific actions may be taken (e.g. a farmers market started in a community with limited access to healthy food), the target population reached is too small and the strategies themselves do not reach the target groups enough times or with enough strength to lead to sustained behavior change (e.g. a sustained increase in consumption of fruits and vegetables by residents shopping at the market). To begin to address this issue of population dose, Kaiser Permanente has developed a framework that specifies factors to be considered in selecting high-dose, community-level interventions. The session will illustrate this framework and Kaiser Permanente's experience using it in program design and interventions.

At the conclusion of this presentation, participants will be able to:

1. Understand the concepts of reach and strength and how they can be combined to estimate the population dose of a community-based prevention intervention.
2. Describe ways of increasing the reach and strength of interventions to help ensure that they that will have a measurable impact.
3. Describe strategies for engaging stakeholders and communicating expectations around population dose to help grantees plan, implement and monitor high dose interventions.

---

August 24, 2011
From Obesity to Hunger: Understanding the Linkage and Creating Innovative Interventions

	Barbara J. Petee Chief Government and Community Relations Officer & Chief Communications Officer ProMedica Toledo, OH Read Barbara's bio
	Stephanie Cihon Corporate Director, Community Relations and Advocacy ProMedica Toledo, OH Read Stephanie's bio

ProMedica, a leading provider of health care in northwest Ohio and southeast Michigan, sees the health impact of poor nutrition and hunger on their patients and families every day. In this webinar, Barbara Petee and Stephanie Cihon will share ProMedica's learning journey about obesity and its relationship to hunger in the community, as well as the innovative programs and initiatives ProMedica has instituted to combat them.

These initiatives include interactive "learning maps" for children and adults, a high school scholarship competition, and various programs for employees, physicians, and community members in dialogue about obesity prevention and hunger. Join us to learn how ProMedica has engaged local communities, service providers, employees and physicians on these issues, where their work has been replicated, and opportunities to adopt or adapt it in your own community.

At the conclusion of this session, participants will:

1. gain a deeper understanding of the connections between poor nutrition, hunger and obesity;
   
2. learn the innovative community programs that ProMedica has designed and implemented for community education and systems change on these issues; and
   
3. understand ways that these approaches can be replicated or adapted in their communities.

---

July 21, 2011
Adapting Safety Net Access Programs to Serve the Changing Uninsured Population

Mark Hall, JD Professor of Law and Public Health Department of Social Sciences & Health Policy Division of Public Health Sciences Wake Forest University School of Medicine Winston-Salem, NC Read Mark's bio

As health care and public health organizations anticipate insurance coverage expansions brought by the Affordable Care Act, they face several key questions, including:

1. What will the major components of the uninsured look like by 2015?
2. How is funding for safety net access programs changing?
3. How can safety net access programs be adapted to meet the needs of the remaining uninsured?

Over 20 million people will remain uninsured following health insurance expansions, but the composition of the uninsured population will change substantially. This session will draw from very recent research to: (1) document the expected components of the uninsured following 2014; (2) profile model safety net access programs that could meet the needs of the different uninsured populations; and (3) help participants strategize how best to justify continued support for safety net programs, providers and institutions.

The session will focus on detailed projections from the Urban Institute of the number and composition of uninsured in each state following full implementation of the Affordable Care Act. Also, information will be synthesized from case studies of model safety net programs for the uninsured, and from Massachusetts' experience with similar reforms, to help anticipate the demands on safety net organizations and the important roles they can play in the reformed environment.

---

May 19, 2011
Creating an Authentic and Effective Community Plan for Healthy Eating and Physical Activity

Jeff Harness, MPH Director Western Massachusetts Center for Healthy Communities Cooley Dickinson Hospital Holyoke, MA Read Jeff's bio

Community health improvement projects can benefit in a number of ways by directly engaging community residents, and doing so can be one of the most inspiring aspects of the work. One of the challenges projects face is choosing the directions that will best use the time, money and energy of the community. With so many possibilities and advocates to choose from, it is essential that projects choose wisely and use methods that bring people together.

Participants will learn how the Holyoke Food and Fitness Initiative, funded by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, developed and worked through a planning process to create a community action plan. The plan is based on local data, grounded in research, supported by a range of stakeholders, focused on health equity and meets the test of available budget and timeframe.

In this webinar, participants will learn the details of the structure and planning process Holyoke developed; understand its structure for engaging youth, adult community members, community organizers, agency professionals and city government staff; learn about community participatory data collection methods; and the methods used to narrow a list of 50 potential strategies to a manageable eight. Taken together, these steps can make sense of different types of data, develop and prioritize strategic options, and achieve consensus on a health improvement action plan.

---

February 17, 2011
Coordinated Community Benefit Planning Linked to a Shared Needs Assessment:
Leveraging Funding and Driving Health Improvement

Clare Reardon Director, Strategic Initiatives & Program Development Froedtert Hospital Organizational Advancement Milwaukee Health Care Partnership Milwaukee, WI

Learn about a community-wide plan for health improvement in Milwaukee, Wisconsin that has taken on new meaning since the March 2010 passage of health reform legislation, including the new 501(r) requirements. Since 2006, the Milwaukee Health Care Partnership has convened health care providers, public health, funders and policy leaders to align resources and strategies for expanding coverage, access and care coordination for Milwaukee's vulnerable, un- and underinsured populations.

The Partnership is a public-private consortium led by the CEOs of Milwaukee's five health systems and four Federally Qualified Health Centers, along with the most senior leaders of the Wisconsin Department of Health Services, Milwaukee County Department of Health and Human Services, the City Health Department, and the Medical College of Wisconsin.

One of the Partnership's key strategies has been to coordinate the health systems' community benefit planning and investments based on a shared community needs assessment process. Creating a community wide improvement plan that aligns existing and new, public and private investments around agreed upon community priorities has taken on greater importance for the Partnership.

At the conclusion of this webinar, participants will have learned about the:

• Critical factors for a sustained, successful health care and public health collaboration.
• Successes and challenges of implementing a shared, community benefit plan in relationship to State and federal health care reform.
• Methods and tools for using a shared needs assessment and community benefit plan for pursuing new private and government funding, while redirecting and leveraging existing health system investments to achieve cost, quality and access goals.

---

January 20, 2011
Community Health Assessment: The Experience and Benefits of One Regional Collaborative Model

Britney L. Ward, MPH Assistant Director of Health Planning Hospital Council of Northwest Ohio Toledo, OH Read Britney's bio

Join this webinar for an illustration of how northwest Ohio has created and benefitted from a sustained regional capacity to conduct community health assessments for and with hospitals, health departments and many other community stakeholders. The Hospital Council of Northwest Ohio (HCNO) and its partners at the University of Toledo have been providing comprehensive community health assessments to counties in northwest Ohio since 1999.

HCNO works with a coalition or committee from each county, including representatives from their local health department, hospitals, schools, churches, law enforcement, and other social service agencies. An extensive set of core indicators has been developed for use across all counties, which can then compare themselves with other counties in the region and benchmark with state and national data. The assessment process also entails careful customization of survey questions to meet the unique needs of each county, with most questions originating from the CDC's BRFSS, YRBSS or the National Survey of Children's Health.

Benefits of this regional collaborative approach include reduced per-institution costs, comparability and trending of data, intra- and inter-county collaboration, and a strong record of securing grant funding for services and initiatives on the strength of evidence-based needs statements and plans.

At the conclusion of this webinar, participants will:

• Understand the northwest Ohio model for regional community health assessment, including the roles of hospitals, public health departments and other stakeholders.
• Know the human and financial resources involved in producing county assessments across the region, and how they are shared by the assessment partners.
• Be able to state several outcomes and benefits achieved with this collaborative assessment model. 

---

This web page may contain links to sites that are not owned or maintained by the Association for Community Health Improvement (ACHI) or the American Hospital Association (AHA). The views expressed by presenters listed on this page do not necessarily reflect the views of ACHI or AHA.