We are so excited to announce that a research study on the financial benefits of outreach, using HOP’s Outreach Business Value Toolkit, was recently published in the Texas Public Health Association Journal! Read more about it below:
In September of 2020, Health Outreach Partners was sought out by Dr. Mariam Chacko, MD, Distinguished Professor Emeritus in the Departments of Pediatrics and Obstetrics & Gynecology at Baylor University in Texas, to discuss our work around providing the business case for outreach. HOP’s work on this topic has been a long-standing focus of our organization, embodied in the Outreach Business Value Toolkit (OBV), released in 2015.
Dr. Chacko and her team used the information from HOP and the OBV in their study that was recently published, titled “Reframing Family Planning In-person Outreach Events for Adolescents and Young Adults: Aligning Program Goals with a Business Plan”. The paper explores the challenges for funding family planning services for adolescents and young adults in the state of Texas. Using the OBV Toolkit as a model, the researchers found that the majority of outreach dimensions in these programs were not well integrated into program goals and business plans, and that this correlated to a negative return on investment (ROI).
In summary, the paper states “Assessing the degree of integration of an outreach program with program goals and business plan and restructuring a program is important. Estimating ROI can help measure outreach success. This approach can encourage the state to formulate policies which result in financial support and better integration of outreach programs with family planning clinics.”