Raynard Washington, chief epidemiologist at the Philadelphia Department of Public Health, which leads the collaborative, said only a handful of communities across the country have taken such an approach, but the most obvious benefit is the reduction of duplicate efforts, costs and other burdens for those involved, including the communities.
“In most cases, health systems do not serve communities in isolation. As such, developing priorities and strategies to address community needs should not occur in isolation,” he said. “Our hope is that a collaborative assessment of priorities for improving the health and well-being of communities will result in further collaboration on implementing strategies to address those priorities.”
By Jenny Wagner
The Collected Works of Jim Garrow 