Conference Presentation, Panel
The 2014 Atlanta Summit - - The Art of Alignment: Nonprofit Strategies for Improving Public Health
Milken InstituteCharlie, Dr. Jim Marks, Dr. Anna Barker, John Lang, Dr. Lynn Goldman, Dr. Larry Jamison
- Cross-sector collaboration between nonprofits, businesses, and public entities is identified as essential for driving significant public health impact, with a recognition that aligning multiple organizations and large institutions to function as a single unit requires considerable time.
- The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation plans to expand partnerships beyond its current scope to reach six, eight, ten, or twelve communities, while the nonprofit sector anticipates greater agility in targeting specific issues compared to government capabilities.
- Precision medicine efforts face a foundational challenge regarding the lack of a sorted pathway to convert information into biomarkers, though new network constructs at Arizona State University aim to establish transparent pathways to make targeted therapies predictable, prevent Phase three trial failures, and level the diagnostics industry.
- The post-2015 framework is expected to provide clear guidance and direct funding for development assistance in developing countries, with the World Bank and WHO soliciting input on universal health coverage indicators by February 15th.
- Universities are expected to adopt new models that reward collaborative work and align administrative systems to translate research into practice, sometimes requiring institutions to cede their identity to broader partnerships to be effective.
- A community health worker program at the University of Pennsylvania's Health System has preliminary data indicating a potential 15 to 50 percent reduction in readmissions, while a "Way to Health" initiative using behavioral economics and IT strategies aims to increase medication adherence from 40–50 percent to 90 percent.
- The DC Center for AIDS prevention intends to broaden its scope to include partners from other Washington DC medical schools and universities to address the epidemic more effectively.
- The CDC is described as a willing but underfunded agency; current resource limitations hinder its ability to leverage partner resources, and its reduction to a bare minimum focus on immediate threats is viewed as insufficient for enhancing population health, though its presence in countries like Nigeria and Botswana is noted for high efficiency.
- It is expected that increased CDC resources would enable universities to collaborate with the agency similarly to current NIH relationships, and that CDC collaboration will catalyze long-term research, resulting in better public health, a stronger economy, and improved business bottom lines.
- Investments in research are predicted to yield only a meager fraction of their potential value unless the CDC facilitates their dissemination, reinforcing the necessity of a long-term partnership between for-profit, nonprofit, and public sectors to solve major health issues.