We understand that better health for all begins with equity. And it begins where we live, work, eat, sleep, and play. HealthBegins was founded in 2012 by Dr. Rishi Manchanda and other public-health-trained physicians who saw the need to strengthen the work of frontline clinicians and community partners who wanted to treat disease and improve the social and economic conditions that made people sick in the first place. In these early years, HealthBegins was a place where frontline practitioners in medicine, social services, public health, and community organizing could connect to learn about moving upstream, share ideas and best practices, and find resources to help promote upstream change in their practices and communities. That’s how HealthBegins was born: as a professional home and network for Upstreamists.

From 2012-2017, HealthBegins emerged as a national leader in the Upstream Movement, helping healthcare and community partners across the country through communications, network building, and hundreds of trainings on Upstream Quality Improvement — our signature braiding of social medicine and quality improvement approaches. As our team grew in 2017, so did our work and national impact. HealthBegins was selected to provide technical assistance to the CMS Accountable Health Communities model, a seminal effort to integrate social needs screening and referrals nationwide. At the same time, we expanded our work, helping many prominent national, regional, and state leaders in health care and the social sector move upstream together.

Our mission and work today remains clear — and is as timely as ever. We partner with and train courageous leaders to improve the social drivers of health and equity at all levels: individual social needs, community-level social determinants of health, and deeper structural determinants of health equity. That’s what we mean by “moving upstream.” We look forward to working with you.