CommunityRx: A Population Health Improvement Innovation That Connects Clinics To Communities.
The CommunityRx system, a population health innovation, combined an e-prescribing model and community engagement to strengthen links between clinics and community resources for basic, wellness, and disease self-management needs in Chicago. The components of CommunityRx were a youth workforce, whose members identified 19,589 public-serving entities in the 106-square-mile implementation region between 2012 and 2014; community health information specialists, who used the workforce's findings to generate an inventory of 14,914 health-promoting resources; and a health information technology (IT) platform that was integrated with three electronic health record systems at thirty-three clinical sites. By mapping thirty-seven prevalent social and medical conditions to community resources, CommunityRx generated 253,479 personalized HealtheRx prescriptions for more than 113,000 participants. Eighty-three percent of the recipients found the HealtheRx very useful, and 19 percent went to a place they learned about from the HealtheRx. All but one organization continued using the CommunityRx system after the study period ended. This study demonstrates the feasibility of using health IT and workforce innovation to bridge the gap between clinical and other health-promoting sectors.
Stacy T. Lindau (slindau@uchicago.edu) is an associate professor in the Departments of Obstetrics and Gynecology and of Medicine-Geriatrics and director of research and innovation at the Urban Health Initiative of University of Chicago Medicine, all at the University of Chicago, in Illinois.
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Jennifer Makelarski is director of epidemiology and research training in the Lindau Laboratory in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Chicago.
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Emily Abramsohn is a researcher and director of quality assurance and data governance in the Lindau Laboratory in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Chicago.
Emily
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Abramsohn
David G. Beiser is an associate professor of medicine and pediatrics in the Section of Emergency Medicine at the University of Chicago.
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Veronica Escamilla is a senior researcher in the Lindau Laboratory in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Chicago.
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Jessica Jerome is an assistant professor in the Department of Health Sciences at DePaul University, in Chicago, and a medical anthropologist in the Lindau Laboratory in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Chicago.
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Daniel Johnson is chief of the Section of Academic Pediatrics, a professor in the Department of Pediatrics, and director of community science for the Urban Health Initiative of University of Chicago Medicine.
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Abel N. Kho is an associate professor of medicine at Northwestern University and director of the Center for Health Information Partnerships, both in Chicago.
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Karen K. Lee is director of fundraising and special programs in the Section of Pediatric Infectious Diseases and Section of Academic Pediatrics, University of Chicago.
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Timothy Long is director of performance improvement, health information technology, and research at the Near North Health Service Corporation and chief clinical officer at Alliance of Community Health Services, both in Chicago.
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Doriane C. Miller is an associate professor in the Department of Medicine and director of the Center of Community Health and Vitality at the Urban Health Initiative of University of Chicago Medicine.
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D002641:Chicago; D003151:Community Health Centers / Q000458:organization & administration*; D055695:Electronic Prescribing; D006293:Health Promotion / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D008490:Medical Informatics / Q000379:methods; D000075485:Population Health
Cross-Sector; Determinants Of Health; Health Promotion/Disease Prevention; Information Technology; Population Health