Health Working Group

>About the group (.pdf) To join the Health Working Group or learn more, e-mail WG Vice President Carolynn Mambu.

From WG Daily:

Working with funders, providers, government officials, and consumers to ensure health care quality and health equity for all residents of the Greater Washington region, regardless of their ability to pay.

Chair: Rachel Wick, Consumer Health Foundation

Health Reform and the Community

"Successful health reform is a participant sport." This was George Mason University’s Director of the Center for Health Policy Research Dr. Len Nichols’ message to funders at a briefing about how the health care reform law will impact areas beyond insurance coverage and the delivery of health care to consumers. Members of the philanthropic community have an opportunity to impact the success of health care reform particularly in their role as conveners. Funders can engage with stakeholders, from patients and doctors, to employers, business leaders, and public officials, to share information and ideas, counter misinformation about health reform, and advocate for local health departments to apply for federal funding. Read more.

Improving Access to Services

In January, Dr. Anna Maria Izquierdo-Porrera, Executive Director of Care for Your Health, Inc, spoke with the group about the potential “micro-practices” may hold for low income communities. Micro-practices are small, patient-centered, community-based practices where primary care doctors know their patients, coordinate care, and collaborate with community partners to improve access to services in underserved communities.

Integrated Health Care Systems

Integrated health systems are receiving increased attention as the public and private sectors look for ways to more efficiently provide better care and improve outcomes. In February, Dr. Jaewon Ryu, Associate Medical Director of the Mid-Atlantic Permanente Medical Group, provided an overview of integrated health care systems in preparation for a discussion of how Kaiser might be helpful in strengthening the region’s safety net providers and coordinated systems of community-based primary care.
 
Meeting the Region's Public Health Officials

Chevelle Glymph, the new Chief of Health and Substance Abuse Programs at the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments, and Dr. Donald Shell, chair of the MWCOG Health Officials Committee, recently spoke with the HWG about the priorities of the region’s health officers. Chief among these are the social determinants of health, cutbacks in public health funding, public health workforce development, health reform, access to services, HIV/AIDS, and region-wide issues such as obesity. The group will continue to work with the Health Officials Committee around issues of common interest.