The Center for Health Affairs has been invited by the Health Policy Institute of Ohio to help develop recommendations for a population health plan as part of the Ohio's CMS State Innovation Model Initiative.
The HPIO is a group that works to provide independent, unbiased, nonpartisan information that can be used to create sound health policy. The CMS SIM Initiative provides financial and technical support to states working to develop and test state-led, multipayer healthcare payment and service delivery models that will improve healthcare and decrease costs.
As part of its involvement, the Center for Health Affairs will participate on an HPIO subgroup that includes individuals from Ohio hospitals, local health departments, the Governor's Office of Health Transformation and the Ohio Department of Health.
Together, the group members will be tasked with two primary objectives: develop draft recommendations for a state and community-level population health planning framework and develop draft recommendations for improving the State Health Assessment and State Health Improvement Plan.
Additionally, a Population Health Planning Advisory Group will work to align health priority areas, measures, objectives and evidence-based strategies with the design and implementation of the patient-centered medical home model.
Representing the Center for Health Affairs on the subgroup will be the organization's director of community outreach, Kirstin Craciun. The group is slated to meet three times before the end of the year.