Strategies

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

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

Establish policies, plans, and programs that meet the needs of all residents of a community, especially children and older adults, and promote interaction and cooperation between individuals of different generations

Provide medications such as methadone to individuals diagnosed with opioid use disorder in outpatient, residential, and hospital settings, usually with counseling and behavioral therapies; often called MAT

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

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

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

Use counseling, informational materials, etc. to inform smokers and non-smokers of the harms of secondhand smoke and encourage them to implement home smoking bans

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

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