BUILD Health Challenge Launches $7.5 Million Initiative to Fund Innovative Collaborations That Improve Community Health

WASHINGTON, Nov. 12, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, The Advisory Board Company, de Beaumont Foundation, Kresge Foundation, and Robert Wood Johnson Foundation announced the launch of the BUILD Health Challenge. The BUILD Health Challenge will identify and support health partnerships taking BOLD, UPSTREAM, INTEGRATED, LOCAL, and DATA-DRIVEN approaches to improving health in low-income, urban communities.

Unlike many population health initiatives, the BUILD Health Challenge requires awardees to take a multi-sectoral approach, including at least one hospital or health system, the local health department, and a nonprofit organization (or coalition of local non-profits) in an equal partnership. The program evolved out of a wealth of research demonstrating that up to 70% of an individual's health is determined by the interplay of physical, social, and economic environments, rather than health care and genetics.

"Community conditions such as safe streets, affordable housing and economic opportunity play a powerful role in shaping health. Improving these community conditions will require cross-sector partnerships that share resources, responsibility and data in new ways," said Chris Kabel, Senior Program Officer at Kresge. "BUILD Health will support such partnerships that focus their work in low-income, urban neighborhoods that are ready to create or enhance health-supporting resources and conditions."

The BUILD Health Challenge will support up to fourteen partnerships in multiple phases of development through differentiated planning and implementation grants. Project plans must be focused on low-income, urban neighborhoods, but the funds may be used to support a range of activities including investments in technology, staff expansion, advocacy, and more.   

"Primary care, public health, and nonprofits – not to mention the private sector – have been operating in their own silos for too long, and the result has been decades of one-off projects, some of which are successful, and some of which are not," said Brian Castrucci, Chief Program and Strategy Officer at the de Beaumont Foundation. "This is a coordinated, collaborative effort to develop tested models for population health improvement that can be brought to scale. If BUILD succeeds, we will change the way that medicine, public health, and the community interact, leading to better outcomes."

The need for BUILD Health has never been more pressing, as many cities, regions and states are experimenting with new methods to achieve better population health outcomes at lower costs.  The BUILD Health partners aim to identify and accelerate the most promising models of collaboration that will promote health equity, reduce per capita health spending, share data and responsibility, and shift resources upstream.

"Today, hospitals and health systems are increasingly adopting a team-based approach to partner with patients to better manage their own health," said Robert Musslewhite, Chairman and CEO, The Advisory Board Company. "To have the greatest impact on community health, this team concept must expand beyond providers to include other key players in our communities. I am excited for the BUILD Health Challenge to encourage these partnerships, to drive innovation in care coordination, and to measurably improve the health of our communities."

 "We know that in order to successfully address today's most pressing health challenges, we need leadership from across sectors working together on sustainable long-term solutions," said Abbey K. Cofsky, Senior Program Officer at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. "We look forward to seeing the ways in which the BUILD Health Challenge will help spur this type of leadership and foster a culture of health in communities across the nation."

The Advisory Board Company is a global technology, research, and consulting firm partnering with 4,500 organizations and more than 200,000 leaders across health care and higher education. Through its innovative membership model, the Company collaborates with executives and their teams to elevate performance and solve their most pressing challenges. The Company provides strategic guidance, actionable insights, web-based software solutions, and comprehensive implementation and management services. For more information, visit www.advisory.com.

Since 1998, the de Beaumont Foundation has worked to transform the practice of public health in the United States. Founded by Pierre S. de Beaumont, the Foundation primarily supports practice-based projects that provide training and education to the public health workforce; build public health infrastructure; and improve information and data management through innovative technology. For more information, visit www.debeaumont.org.

The Kresge Foundation is a $3 billion private, national foundation that works to expand opportunities in America's cities through grantmaking and investing in arts and culture, education, environment, health, human services and community development efforts in Detroit. In 2013, the Board of Trustees approved 316 awards totaling $122 million; $128 million was paid out to grantees over the course of the year. In addition, our Social Investment Practice made commitments totaling $16 million in 2013. For more information, visit kresge.org.

For more than 40 years the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation has worked to improve the health and health care of all Americans. We are striving to build a national Culture of Health that will enable all Americans to live longer, healthier lives now and for generations to come. For more information, visit www.rwjf.org.

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