Health Outreach Partners https://outreach-partners.org/2012/02/how-outreach-programs-can-improve-health-outcomes/ Export date: Sun Apr 28 4:11:07 2024 / +0000 GMT |
How Outreach Programs Can Improve Health OutcomesMany outreach programs serve priority populations that are less likely to use preventive health services and have a higher disease burden compared to the general population. Health outreach programs play a critical role in improving and extending the reach of health care through activities such as health education, case management, basic health screening, and facilitating access to services. These activities can directly and indirectly improve health outcomes of individuals and communities. On December 15th, 2011, Health Outreach Partners (HOP) hosted the national Peer-to-Peer Event, “The Role of Outreach in Improving Health Outcomes” including three panelists:
Highlighted below are key points, strategies, and recommendations discussed during the event.
Why Connect Outreach to Health Outcomes? It is important to monitor and evaluate outreach efforts to show how health outcomes are improved. Outreach programs can show they have improved health outcomes by using evidence-based measures, or measures that have been shown to indicate health status. These measures could be related to hypertension, diabetes, prenatal care, cancer care, and other health conditions. There are three important reasons to connect outreach to improved health outcomes. The first is related to reimbursement for program costs. We need to show the connection between outreach and improving outcomes in order to make outreach a reimbursable service. Second, we need compelling outcomes to show decision makers that outreach workers are integral members of primary care teams. Finally, we want to make sure that we are spending time and effort on activities that are actually changing patients’ behaviors, improving their health status, and enabling them to have a better sense of control over their health needs.
Outreach Activities that Improve Health Outcomes Community Health Workers (Promotores de Salud) and Popular Education are two outreach models that are powerful in improving health outcomes. Activities stemming from these models include:
Programs can also increase positive health outcomes by strengthening the continuity of care. This can be done with migrant populations by connecting patients to services in other areas. Migrant Clinician’s Network’s (MCN) Health Network is an excellent resource to bridge case management.
The Role of Empowerment in Improving Health Outcomes Individual and community empowerment are often key in improving health outcomes. Characteristics of empowerment include:
It is important for programs to foster patient empowerment. Empowerment occurs when patients realize that they can have an impact on their own health. It also happens when patients know about services available to them and seek out those services. The educational component of the care team can support and cultivate patient empowerment and self-efficacy. Outreach can play a critical role in ensuring that this type of empowerment education is practiced throughout the care team to maximize the impact on patients.
Where to Begin: Measuring and Reporting the Influence of Outreach Programs on Health Outcomes When outreach programs want to effectively connect their activities to health outcomes, they should use both local knowledge and established data and literature. There are five steps to show that your outreach activities are impacting health outcomes.
When we gather data and share it with individuals and institutions that make decisions, we can push policy and payment systems to support our work in improving health outcomes and eliminating health inequity.
Additional Resources and Tools
For More Information on the Organizations Involved on This Call:
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Links:
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Post date: 2012-02-01 15:46:57 Post date GMT: 2012-02-01 15:46:57 Post modified date: 2022-12-08 09:18:31 Post modified date GMT: 2022-12-08 17:18:31 |
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