The Guide to Community Preventive Services (The Community Guide), a free resource for evidence-based recommendations and findings from the Community Preventive Services Task Force, can play a valuable role in the community health improvement efforts of hospitals and health departments, as highlighted on a recent webinar held in late March. Nearly 300 participants joined speakers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Public Health Foundation (PHF), and Association for Community Health Improvement (ACHI)/Health Research & Educational Trust (HRET) for this webinar to learn more about The Community Guide and opportunities for using The Community Guide to improve community health.

 

Webinar participants listened in as Shawna Mercer, MSc, PhD, Chief of the Community Guide Branch at CDC; Katya Seligman, MPH, Program Manager for HRET; Jack Moran, MBA, PhD, Senior Quality Advisor for PHF; and Ron Bialek, MPP, President of PHF, introduced The Community Guide, discussed driving forces behind the current focus on community health improvement, shared plans for ACHI’s Community Health Assessment Toolkit, and described a population health driver diagram framework that can be used for collaborative community health improvement. Participants’ questions delved deeper into aspects of The Community Guide and how it can support population health. All of this content is captured in the webinar archive available through the archive webpage, Using the Community Guide for Community Health Improvement (Archived Webinar), along with the presentation slides.

 

This webinar served as a kick-off for a new pilot initiative aimed at helping hospitals use evidence-based recommendations and findings found in The Community Guide to take action and implement community health improvement activities in collaboration with health departments and other community stakeholders. A joint effort of CDC, PHF, and ACHI/HRET, this pilot initiative will use the population health driver diagram framework, developed by PHF, to help hospitals and their community partners align and implement actions to address identified population health priorities. Two hospitals, WellSpan Health in York, PA, and INTEGRIS in Oklahoma City, OK, are leading the way in testing this framework and will be working with community stakeholders over the coming months to address health priorities in their communities using The Community Guide.

 

In addition to field testing the population health driver diagram framework, work is underway to update ACHI’s Community Health Assessment Toolkit and develop resource materials on using The Community Guide to address population health priorities. Stay tuned to the Using the Community Guide for Community Health Improvement initiative webpage and PHF E-News to learn more as this initiative progresses. Information about using a population health driver diagram in your own community can be found through PHF's Performance Improvement Services or by contacting Margie Beaudry at mbeaudry@phf.org or 202-218-4415.