Ideas at work

Find initiatives and collaborations working on health-related issues and learn about effective strategies for action.

initiatives and collaborations

Buyer’s Health Care Action Group
Coalition of public and private businesses promoting lower health care costs for employers while improving the quality of health care.

Citizens League Medical Facilities Study Committee
Seeks to determine the needs for hospitals and medical facilities in Minnesota and come up with a process that links health care demand with facility need.

First Lady’s Heart Health Awareness Campaign
Resources for women about heart disease and heart disease prevention.

Homegrown Minneapolis
An initiative to improve sales, distribution and consumption of fresh, locally grown foods to positively impact the health, food security, economy and environment of Minneapolis and the surrounding region.

Minnesota e-Health Initiative
Works to improve public health by empowering consumers, connecting healthcare providers and enhancing the infrastructure.

Minnesota Healthy Minnesotans Initiative
Public Health improvement goals set in 2004.

Statewide Health Improvement Program (SHIP)
SHIP, an integral part of Minnesota’s nation-leading 2008 health reform law, strives to help Minnesotans lead longer, healthier lives by reducing the chronic diseases caused by tobacco use and exposure, poor nutrition and physical inactivity.

Steps to a Healthier Minneapolis
Aims to help people improve their health and reduce the burden of obesity, diabetes, and tobacco.

Twin Cities Healthy Start
Aims to reduce infant mortality in African-American and American Indian communities.

Walking School Bus
Studies show that fewer children are walking and biking to school, and more children are at risk of becoming overweight. Changing behaviors of children and parents require creative solutions that are safe and fun. Implementing a walking school bus can be both.

Research-based strategies

Listed below are proven, effective strategies linked to reports that provide data and information about how the strategies were implemented.

Access to care (2)
- Preventing low birthweight
  Annie E. Casey Foundation, July 2009, 17 pp.
  This brief describes five strategies for reducing the rate of low birth weight births.
- Health care access for uninsured adults: a strong safety net is not the same as insurance
  The Urban Institute, January 2002, 8 pp.
  Examines the extent to which differences in the safety-net environment account for differences in the uninsureds’ access to and use of health care.
Culturally-competent services (1)
- Addressing health disparities in community settings: An Analysis of best practices in community-based approches to ending disparities in health care
  The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, October 2003, 66 pp.
  This report is based on a study of of community-based initiatives addressing disparities in breast cancer, cervical cancer and diabetes. The authors identify best practices, success factors and the potential contributions of these programs.
Early diagnosis and treatment (2)
- Guide to community prevention service
  Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, June 2005, 2 pp.
  Evidence based recommendations for improving the use of breast, cervical and colorectal cancer screening.
- Eliminate disparities in diabetes
  Center for Disease Control, December 1969
  Hispanics, African Americans and American Indians are several more times likely to have diabetes than Whites. This web page provides promising strategies for decreasing the overall rate of complications from diabetes.
Interconnected systems (4)
- Collaborating to create Medical Homes for children with special health care needs in Minnesota: Evaluation results 2005-2008
  Wilder Research, July 2009, 126 pp.
  Describes the efforts made in Minnesota to implement Medical Homes -- a community-based system of services for all children with special healthcare needs. The report summarizes progress made by participating clinical teams at the patient-, clinic-, community-, and systems-levels.
- Promoting health equity: A Resource to help communities address social determinants of health
  Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, January 2008, 116 pp.
  Workbook for people interested in addressing social, economic, and environmental conditions in order to promote health and achieve health equity. The report includes case studies of existing programs, highlights lessons learned from communities working on these issues, and provides information and tools to develop, implement and evaluate interventions that address the social determinants of health equality.
- The Imperatives of reducing health disparities through prevention: Challenges, implications, and opportunities OCTOBER 2006
  Prevention Institute, October 2006, 36 pp.
  This paper focuses on key community factors that can play a pivotal role in reducing health disparities. It identifies strategies and emerging approaches to improving those factors in communities.
- Addressing health disparities in community settings: An Analysis of best practices in community-based approches to ending disparities in health care
  The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, October 2003, 66 pp.
  This report is based on a study of of community-based initiatives addressing disparities in breast cancer, cervical cancer and diabetes. The authors identify best practices, success factors and the potential contributions of these programs.