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Dear friends,
From Virginia and Vermont to Colorado and California, I’m inspired by the leaders we support these days. I’m excited by the upstream efforts they’re driving in their systems and communities. With the help of new resources, they’re communicating and collaborating across sectors with more clarity and rigor than ever. With so many new programs and initiatives in the field, there’s good reason for us all to be excited — while still early days, work to address social needs and social determinants of health at scale is now underway.
Now, as I look ahead, I believe the time is right to broaden our approach. It’s time to manage our upstream programs as investments.
Let me explain.
When it comes to planning for the future, my wife and I are like a lot of folks. We have (and try to stick to) a budget and a basic plan for a couple of specific savings goals, like sending our kids to college. Beyond that, our time is spent on the day-to-day — spending time with family, doing good work with great colleagues and being part of our community.
Not long ago, recognizing that we needed to be more proactive in meeting our family’s long-term goals, we scheduled time with a financial planner. To be honest, it was the first time in recent memory when we both sat down and asked ourselves…is the way we’re spending and investing our resources putting us on a path to achieve our long-term goals? It was a humbling experience and fundamentally expanded our approach to setting and meeting our long-term goals.
When it comes to planning for the future of upstream work, the analogy holds. Through community partnerships and collaboratives, healthcare organizations are launching programs to address social needs and social determinants of health. We have budgets and plans to reach specific goals, like increasing screening or reducing ED visits. Beyond that, our time is spent on the day-to-day — building and managing upstream programs, doing good work, and building partnerships. When we contemplate “ROI” and “business case”, we’re often doing it one program at a time.
But is the way we’re spending and investing our resources putting us on a path to achieve long-term goals for community health? At the moment, the short answer is no. And one reason is this: As we’re busy designing and managing new upstream initiatives, we’re treating them as individual programs, not as investments within a broader portfolio.
As this movement matures, institutions, multi-sector collaboratives and entire communities face the challenge of taking a bundle of interventions purporting to address a variety of social determinants and shaping them into a cohesive investment strategy that can achieve long-term health, social and financial impact.
Moving from a “program” to an “investment” perspective is not just semantics. It’s about equipping ourselves with the skills and tools to become better stewards of resources. Just as financial planners provide support and tools to help families set long-term goals for college and retirement, HealthBegins and its partners are committed to supporting healthcare and community leaders with “upstream investment planning” tools and services. Our goal is simple: Ensure that today’s HRSN and SDH programs drive long-term sustainable health improvements for our patients and communities. In our June Webinar, Lauren Taylor and I will be talking about new structures and tools to do just that.
We have reason for optimism. Leaders across the country are finding new ways of providing and paying for interventions that address social needs and social determinants of health. As HealthBegins helps them launch and manage these new HRSN & SDH programs, we are asking these leaders new questions…ones that I now share with you:
What are your long-term goals for social determinants of health? Are your interventions aligned to support these goals? In short, what does your Upstream Investment Portfolio look like?
We’d love to hear your thoughts.
Best,
Rishi Manchanda
This newsletter greeting is adapted from a new blog post. Read more. |
