Strategies

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

80 Strategies
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Consumer participation in health care governance

Involve consumers in health care governance via roles on governing boards, advisory committees, or shorter-term special projects
Evidence Rating:
Expert Opinion

Community Conditions

  • Clinical care

Societal Rules

  • Governance

Consumer-directed health plans

Establish high deductible health plans paired with pre-tax medical expense accounts such as Health Reimbursement Arrangements (HRAs) or Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) and information tools
Evidence Rating:
Mixed Evidence

Community Conditions

  • Clinical care

Societal Rules

  • Institutional practices

Cultural competence training for health care professionals

Increase health care providers’ skills and knowledge to understand and respond to cultural differences, value diversity, etc. via factual information, skills training, and other efforts
Evidence Rating:
Scientifically Supported

Community Conditions

  • Clinical care

Societal Rules

  • Worldviews, culture and norms

Culturally adapted health care

Tailor health care to patients’ norms, beliefs, and values, as well as their language and literacy skills
Evidence Rating:
Scientifically Supported

Community Conditions

  • Clinical care

Societal Rules

  • Institutional practices
  • Worldviews, culture and norms

E-cigarette regulations

Regulate use of e-cigarettes via age, sales and marketing restrictions, expanded smoke-free air policies in public and private worksites and designated spaces, etc.
Evidence Rating:
Expert Opinion

Community Conditions

  • Tobacco use

Societal Rules

  • Laws and policies

Faith community nursing

Position registered nurses within a parish or similar faith community, or in a health care system to serve as a liaison to congregations; also called parish nursing or congregational nursing
Evidence Rating:
Expert Opinion

Community Conditions

  • Clinical care

Federally qualified health centers (FQHCs)

Increase support for non-profit health care organizations and deliver comprehensive care to uninsured, underinsured, and vulnerable patients regardless of ability to pay; often called community health centers (CHCs)
Evidence Rating:
Scientifically Supported

Community Conditions

  • Clinical care

Societal Rules

  • Laws and policies

Financial incentives for health professionals serving underserved areas

Expand incentives such as scholarships and loans with service requirements and loan repayment or forgiveness programs for health care providers who practice in rural or other underserved areas
Evidence Rating:
Some Evidence

Community Conditions

  • Clinical care

Societal Rules

  • Budgets

Financial incentives for new nursing faculty

Offer loan repayment, tuition assistance, competitive academic salaries, etc. to students who teach in nursing programs after completing an advanced degree
Evidence Rating:
Expert Opinion

Community Conditions

  • Clinical care

Societal Rules

  • Budgets

Green House homes

Support self-contained, homelike dwellings for 10-12 elderly adults who require nursing care; universal caregivers, usually CNAs, provide care and other supports while clinical teams visit for specialized care
Evidence Rating:
Some Evidence

Community Conditions

  • Clinical care