The Alliance for a Healthier SC Selected for Prestigious Population Health Challenge

COLUMBIA, S.C., May 8, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- The Alliance for a Healthier South Carolina, a coalition of more than 50 diverse organizations across the state working together to improve population health, is happy to announce that they are one of 15 finalists for the "States of Solutions" program, an effort convened by the Institute for Healthcare Improvement and funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

This small group of finalists will lay a foundation to advance equity by instituting improvement strategies and pursuing systemic changes in their state as part of Phase I of this initiative. Finalists that show substantial progress will move to Phase II, where they will engage in equity action labs and pursue initiatives to advance strategic and coordinated actions across sectors and communities to improve health equity.

The Alliance was founded in 2013 and is built on the collective impact model, an approach designed to minimize duplication and maximize its impact. The coalition works directly with organizations and coalitions at the state level to identify and act on collaborative opportunities to improve health and reduce disparities at the population level. It also serves as an organizational and resource backbone role for all associated health improvement efforts in the state, including the development of a state health improvement plan in partnership with SCDHEC.

"From our inception, The Alliance has been fully committed to aligning our efforts to improve the health and wellbeing of everyone in South Carolina," says Rick Foster, Executive Director of the Alliance. "From the beginning, we have made an explicit commitment to looking at all of our improvement work through a health equity lens."

"I see this as the Alliance's hard work over the past five years paying off with this national recognition," agrees Teresa Arnold, State Director of AARP South Carolina and the Chair of the Alliance. "Being selected to participate in this major new national initiative is both a recognition of our collective focus on achieving equity and a wonderful opportunity to actively learn from other states and national experts on the health equity front."

Contact: Schipp Ames, 803-744-3543, [email protected]

SOURCE The Alliance for a Healthier South Carolina