Strategies

What Works for Health includes evidence-informed strategies to create communities where everyone can thrive.

Nurse-Family Partnership (NFP)

Provide home visiting services to low income, first time mothers and their babies, starting during pregnancy and continuing through a child’s second birthday

Evidence Rating:

Scientifically Supported

Nurse-friendly work environments

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

Evidence Rating:

Expert Opinion

Nutrient management plans

Support site-specific plans for crop production that match nutrient applications to crop needs, typically with agricultural best management practices

Evidence Rating:

Scientifically Supported

Nutrition and physical activity interventions in preschool & child care

Offer young children opportunities to eat healthy foods and engage in physical activity by providing fresh fruits and vegetables, incorporating physical activity into daily classroom routines, etc.

Evidence Rating:

Scientifically Supported

Provide prescriptions with healthy eating goals for patients and families, often accompanied by progress checks at office visits and vouchers or other healthy food provisions; can include partnerships with local farmers markets or grocery stores

Evidence Rating:

Some Evidence

On-site child care

Provide employees with child care options at work; care may be provided free of charge, partially subsidized as part of an employee benefit package, or offered at market rates

Evidence Rating:

Insufficient Evidence

Open gym time

Offer time during the school day for children to play in the gym, often during lunch period; shared use agreements can expand open gym opportunities to community members outside school hours

Evidence Rating:

Expert Opinion

Open Streets

Allow community members to gather, socialize, walk, run, bike, skate, etc. on streets temporarily to closed to motorized traffic; also called Ciclovía programs

Evidence Rating:

Expert Opinion

Out of town bypasses

Establish roads that avoid built-up areas such as towns, cities, or commercial/business districts

Evidence Rating:

Some Evidence

Outdoor experiential education

Support outdoor pursuits and adventure-based activities that emphasize inter- and intra-personal growth through overcoming obstacles (e.g., challenge courses, wilderness excursions, etc.)

Evidence Rating:

Some Evidence

Paid family leave

Provide employees with paid time off for circumstances such as a recent birth or adoption, a parent or spouse with a serious medical condition, or a sick child

Evidence Rating:

Scientifically Supported

Paid sick leave laws

Require employers in an affected jurisdiction to provide paid time off for employees to use when ill or injured

Evidence Rating:

Some Evidence

Parents as Teachers (PAT)

Support home visits that teach parents about early childhood development and effective parenting strategies, with child development screenings, parental meetings, and links to community resources

Evidence Rating:

Some Evidence

Participatory budgeting

Engage community members to determine how public budgets are spent, ideally to improve neighborhood conditions and reduce inequality.

Evidence Rating:

Mixed Evidence

Patient financial incentives for preventive care

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

Evidence Rating:

Scientifically Supported

Patient navigators

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

Evidence Rating:

Scientifically Supported

Patient safety checklists

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

Evidence Rating:

Scientifically Supported

Patient shared decision making

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

Evidence Rating:

Scientifically Supported

Payday loan regulations

Regulate short-term loans that must be repaid by a borrower’s next pay day via bans, caps on maximum interest rates and loan amounts, or require minimum loan terms and credit cost

Evidence Rating:

Mixed Evidence

Permeable pavement projects

Use pervious concrete, porous asphalt, permeable interlocking pavers, open-jointed blocks or cells, or other permeable pavement in individual or commercial development efforts; also called porous or pervious pavement

Evidence Rating:

Scientifically Supported

PFAS regulations

Establish regulations for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) manufactured chemicals, that address production, use, and environmental contamination

Evidence Rating:

Expert Opinion

Physically active classrooms

Incorporate classroom-based physical activities, such as classroom energizers, into academic lessons or as a break, usually for elementary students

Evidence Rating:

Scientifically Supported

Places for physical activity

Modify local environments to support physical activity, increase access to new or existing facilities for physical activity, or build new facilities

Evidence Rating:

Scientifically Supported

Plastic bag bans

Prohibit the manufacture, use, and provision of single-use plastic bags, either partially or completely, and provide education and outreach to raise consumer awareness and support of bans

Evidence Rating:

Some Evidence

Point-of-decision prompts for physical activity

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

Evidence Rating:

Scientifically Supported

Point-of-purchase prompts for healthy foods

Place motivational signs on posters, front of package labels, or shelf labels near fruits, vegetables, and other items that encourage individuals to purchase healthier food options

Evidence Rating:

Some Evidence

Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) Tier 1

Teach positively stated behavior expectations to all students, often reinforced with prizes or privileges and supported with coaching and data

Evidence Rating:

Scientifically Supported

Practice facilitation for primary care

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.

Evidence Rating:

Scientifically Supported

Preconception education interventions

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

Evidence Rating:

Some Evidence

Preschool & child care Quality Rating and Improvement Systems (QRIS)

Support quality improvement efforts in early child care and preschool via financial incentives, standards, processes to monitor standards and ensure compliance, etc.

Evidence Rating:

Some Evidence

Preschool education programs

Provide center-based programs that support cognitive and social-emotional growth among children who are not old enough to enter formal schooling

Evidence Rating:

Scientifically Supported

Preschool programs with family support services

Provide center-based programs that support cognitive and social development among young children from families with low incomes, with supports such as home visiting or parental education

Evidence Rating:

Scientifically Supported

Prescription drug monitoring programs (PDMPs)

Use databases, housed in state agencies, to track prescribing and dispensing of Schedule II, III, IV, and V drugs and other controlled substances

Evidence Rating:

Some Evidence

Price transparency initiatives for patients

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

Evidence Rating:

Some Evidence

Primary seat belt enforcement laws

Allow law enforcement officials to stop drivers solely for failing to use a seat belt

Evidence Rating:

Scientifically Supported

Professionally trained medical interpreters

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

Evidence Rating:

Scientifically Supported

Promise Academy Charter Schools

Create a school culture of high behavioral and academic expectations, with intense tutoring, increased teacher performance feedback, lengthened instruction time, and health care services

Evidence Rating:

Some Evidence

Proper drug disposal programs

Establish programs that accept expired, unwanted, or unused medicines from designated users and dispose of them responsibly

Evidence Rating:

Expert Opinion

Public deliberations

Bring people with diverse values and perspectives together to engage in facilitated, inclusive, and informed dialogues about a topic of public concern. Examples include Citizens’ Initiative Reviews, deliberative polling, citizen juries, and citizen’s assemblies.

Evidence Rating:

Some Evidence

Public libraries for community building

Lend materials, offer gathering space, and provide educational, civic, and social programming; open to the community and publicly funded

Evidence Rating:

Expert Opinion

Public reporting of health care quality performance

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

Evidence Rating:

Some Evidence

Public reporting of health care-associated infections

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

Evidence Rating:

Expert Opinion

Public transportation systems

Introduce or expand transportation options that are available to the public and run on a scheduled timetable (e.g., buses, trains, ferries, rapid transit, etc.)

Evidence Rating:

Scientifically Supported

Publicly funded pre-kindergarten programs

Provide publicly funded pre-kindergarten (pre-K) education to 3- and 4-year-olds, through large-scale or universal efforts

Evidence Rating:

Scientifically Supported

Radon mitigation programs

Prevent radon from entering occupied buildings and reduce existing indoor air radon levels via soil depressurization, home or room pressurization, heat recovery ventilation, etc.

Evidence Rating:

Some Evidence

Rain barrels

Use ready-made or home constructed barrel systems to collect and store rainwater from rooftops that would otherwise flow to storm drains and streams

Evidence Rating:

Some Evidence

Rain gardens & other bioretention systems

Establish bioretention systems (e.g., rain gardens, bioretention cells, green roofs, planter boxes, bioswales, etc.) to make city landscapes more permeable to help control stormwater

Evidence Rating:

Scientifically Supported

Raise the Age

Increase the minimum and/or maximum age boundaries for youth to be processed in the juvenile justice system

Evidence Rating:

Expert Opinion

Rapid re-housing programs

Transition families and individuals experiencing homelessness into permanent housing quickly, often with supports such as short-term financial assistance, case management, landlord negotiations, etc.

Evidence Rating:

Some Evidence

Reach Out and Read

Partner with doctors, nurse practitioners, and other medical professionals to incorporate literacy support into regular well-child visits, especially in lower income communities

Evidence Rating:

Scientifically Supported

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