Strategies

Combine educational, environmental, and behavioral activities that increase physical activity and improve nutrition (e.g., nutrition education, aerobic/strength training, dietary prescriptions, etc.) in various settings

Use regulation to extend nurse practitioners’ (NPs’) scope of practice to provide care to the full scope of their training and skills without physician oversight, especially for primary care

Implement programs that continue education, mentoring, and support for novice nurses following graduation

Improve work environments for nurses via establishment of strong nursing leadership, organizational support, etc.

Provide prescriptions with healthy eating goals for patients and families, often accompanied by progress checks at office visits; can include partnerships with local farmers markets via FVRx programs

Use payments, vouchers, and other incentives to encourage patients to undergo preventive care such as screenings, vaccinations, etc.

Provide culturally sensitive assistance and care coordination, and guide patients through available medical, insurance, and social support; also called systems navigators

Use visual tools to prompt safe practices, standardize communication, and ensure no step is forgotten before, during, or after a medical procedure or other health care situation

Support joint decision making between health care practitioners and patients through shared decision making (SDM); part of patient-centered care

Place motivational signs on or near stairwells, elevators, and escalators that encourage individuals to use stairs

Engage practice coaches or facilitators to work with primary care clinic staff to redesign clinical practices, organize quality improvement efforts, improve communication, share best practices, etc.

Provide women with information about the risks and benefits of behaviors that affect their health before, during, and after pregnancy

Make pricing for hospital procedures and other health care services publicly available, often via websites, online databases, report cards, or similar tools

Provide interpretation services for patients with limited English proficiency (LEP) in outpatient and inpatient health care settings, following training and certification

Make clinician, hospital, clinic, long-term care facility, and insurance plan performance on health care quality measures publicly available via report cards, reporting websites, or similar tools

Make health care facilities’ health care-associated or hospital-acquired infection (HAI) rates readily available to patients and providers

Establish plans consistent with personal values and current life circumstances that set goals related to having or not having children; goals often change over time

Establish clinics in retail stores that provide basic services for minor illnesses (e.g., sore throats or skin conditions) and procedures (e.g., immunizations, pregnancy testing, routine lab tests); also known as retail pharmacy, walk-in, or convenient care clinics

Conduct individual assessments that gauge older adults’ risk of falling and develop personalized approaches to help prevent falls

Provide sealants, fluoride treatment, screening, and other preventive dental care on school grounds via partnerships with dental professionals

Provide health care services on school premises to attending elementary, middle, and high school students; physical and mental health services provided by teams of nurses, nurse practitioners, and physicians

Provide reproductive health care services such as counseling, contraception, and testing in middle and high school-based health centers

Establish state level regulations that require nursing homes to employ at least a set number of licensed and non-licensed nursing staff, often set in terms of staff hours per resident day

Ensure appropriate access to 17P, a synthetic version of the hormone progesterone, by identifying high-risk women, reducing barriers to treatment receipt and completion, coordinating care, etc.

Support school-, community-, and clinic-based teen pregnancy prevention programs such as comprehensive sex education, HIV/STI prevention and youth development efforts, service learning, etc.

Deliver consultative, diagnostic, and treatment services remotely, especially for patients who live in areas with limited access to care or who experience transportation or mobility barriers; sometimes called telehealth

Provide mental health care services (e.g., psychotherapy or counseling) via telephone or videoconference

Provide reminders, education, or self-management assistance for health conditions, especially chronic diseases, via text message

Shift the way health care organizations approach trauma by adopting universal trauma precautions and providing trauma-specific care

Create financial incentives or remove financial disincentives to affect consumer choices and incentivize provision of cost efficient health care services

Use the purchasing power of employers and groups of insured individuals to create incentives and disincentives for health care providers to deliver high quality, high value care

Make water readily available in various settings via regular placement of drinking fountains, water coolers, bottled water in vending machines, etc.

Support breastfeeding via private, well-equipped lactation spaces in workplaces, along with breastfeeding breaks, flexible schedules, professional lactation support, etc.

Use educational, environmental, and behavioral strategies to improve food choices and physical activity opportunities in worksite settings, also called workplace health programs