From Theory to Practice: A 2-Year Demonstration of the Community-Centered Health Home Model
A newly released supplement in the Journal of Public Health Management and Practice highlights the Gulf Region Health Outreach Program (GRHOP), a series of integrated, five-year projects designed to strengthen healthcare in Gulf Coast communities in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and the Florida Panhandle. One article in the supplement describes the Community-Centered Health Homes Demonstration Project.
The Community-Centered Health Home (CCHH) model, developed by Prevention Institute, calls on health care organizations to contribute to improvements in community conditions that influence health such as employment or housing. The Louisiana Public Health Institute designed the first demonstration of CCHH and worked with 5 community health centers in the Gulf South to implement the model over a 2-year period. With support of funding and technical assistance, health centers and their community partners pursued a range of data collection, analysis, and community prevention activities. This article discusses the opportunities and challenges for replicating CCHH as a framework for how health care can respond to upstream determinants of health that affect the entire community. Further implementation efforts that address some of the challenges during this demonstration are needed to learn more about successful implementation and impact on population health.