Health Equity and Population Health: An Increased Focus on Quality Care for All Children
Because children’s environments have a major impact on their wellbeing, Nationwide Children’s is furthering its nationally recognized population health efforts to help children where they are: in their schools, homes, and neighborhoods. Investments will be made to provide stable, quality housing, and provide resources for school-based health services, community-wide efforts to reduce infant mortality, and provide economic development to under-resourced neighborhoods. The last year has raised our national awareness even more of the importance of these issues and their impact on child health in our community and across the country.
The hospital is addressing health equity through its Stand Against Racism and Stand for Health Equity plan by launching new strategies to break down barriers to care for children and families in underserved populations, expanding access to quality care and advocating for policies that address social determinants of health. Nationwide Children’s Healthy Neighborhoods Healthy Families (HNHF) program is exemplary of this effort with plans to significantly grow their programs including home ownership and renovation. HNHF has already built or improved more than 400 properties in communities around the hospital. Additionally, Creation of a new Center for Child Health Equity and Outcomes Research will support this work with research-driven data.
“Nationwide Children’s is committed not only to best outcomes but also to health equity for children, and fulfilling our mission of ensuring all children have access to world-class care,” said Chief Judge Algenon L. Marbley, U.S. District Court Southern District of Ohio and chair of Nationwide Children’s Board of Directors facilities committee. “This will benefit all of us, as Nationwide Children’s creates new jobs and invests in communities that have for too long been underdeveloped and under-resourced.”
The hospital will further invest in Partners For Kids (PFK), Nationwide Children’s impactful accountable care organization. Alongside its partners, PFK supports the highest quality care for almost all children served by Medicaid in more than half of Ohio counties, while also sharing best practices with pediatric providers across the state. The hospital will also invest in Pediatric Vital Signs, an initiative to measure the wellbeing of all children in its community across eight metrics, with the goal of determining what is working and expanding the initiative as a national model for pediatric care.
Nationwide Children’s will invest in these initiatives and other health equity and population health programs with the intent to scale and grow these efforts and extend work into other areas of social determinants of health for the community.
The Collaboratory for Kids and Community Health
The Collaboratory for Kids and Community Health is a hub for innovative ideas improving the health of children and their neighborhoods. Nationwide Children’s Hospital hopes these lessons drawn from our community inspire you in yours.
