Issue 27 | Spring 2016

Dear Reader,

Over the years, it has become increasingly clear to those in the trenches of population health and healthcare delivery that there are substantial mitigating factors affecting long-term health outcomes beyond access to high-quality care. These social and economic determinants of health, which include issues relating to quality housing, job security, education, public safety and transportation, among others, account for an astounding 60% of health outcomes, underscoring the importance of reaching beyond clinic walls in order to ensure that everyone has an opportunity for a healthy and sustainable lifestyle.

 

Our 27th edition, Launching Impactful Social Innovations in Healthcare: Using Data to Drive Innovation and Decisions, highlights some of Philadelphia’s leading innovators who are working collaboratively to find lasting solutions to the social and economic challenges that impede the best health outcomes. This edition is sponsored by the Health Promotion Council and the Independence Blue Cross Foundation.

 

For 25 years, PHMC’s Community Health Data Base (CHDB) has collected and disseminated information on health status, health behaviors and access to care at the neighborhood level across Philadelphia and the five county region, and has identified the major unmet health issues across the region and within neighborhoods. In addition, PHMC has conducted Community Health Needs Assessments (CHNA) in partnership with 27 community-based hospitals throughout the region. The CHNAs revealed a critical, though not surprising, lesson: Every neighborhood in the Philadelphia region is at a different point along the health continuum and therefore needs different innovative strategies to make changes.  

 

Combining national and local data tells us that to successfully make good decisions and design healthcare innovations, we need strategies that address the social determinants of health and population health, as well as ideas to meet the unique healthcare issues and trends at the local community and neighborhood level. Through partnership and collaboration, the social sector is poised to work together to ensure that not only do our communities have access to high-quality healthcare, but that they have the environmental and socioeconomic supports in place to ensure long term outcomes.

 

We thank the Health Promotion Council and the Independence Blue Cross Foundation, whose support enables us to continue to advance innovations in the social sector across the Philadelphia region. This edition is presented in partnership with the PHMC CHDB, Greater Philadelphia Business Coalition on Health, E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Foundation, Inglis, Scattergood Foundation, Green Tree Community Health Foundation, Independence Foundation, Philanthropy Network Greater Philadelphia and the Public Health Fund. 

Very truly yours,

Nicholas Torres, Co-Founder
Tine Hansen-Turton, Co-Founder