Collaborative Investments + Health
The Need
Our health is impacted by more than having insurance or visiting the doctor. In fact, 80% of the things that keep you healthy happen outside the healthcare system. Access to nutritious food, stable housing, social interaction, and job opportunities have a profound impact on health outcomes.
But our health care system is primarily set up to pay for things like doctor visits, tests, hospital stays, medical procedures and treatment, and prescription drugs. This narrow definition of health care neglects upstream investments in services like food, housing, and social support that could improve health outcomes and reduce health care costs down the road.
The Help
Collaborative Investments + Health brings together hospital networks, Medicaid managed care providers, and other stakeholders to improve the lives of Clevelanders.
United Way of Greater Cleveland is bringing to life a new model, Collaborative Investments + Health, in which traditional health care organizations make upstream investments in the broader definition of health. In September 2021, United Way, The Rose Centers for Aging Well and 11 hospital and health insurance partners launched this innovative and sustainable strategy.
Investors in the program include Buckeye Health Plan (Centene), CareSource, Cleveland Clinic, Humana, The MetroHealth System, Molina Healthcare Ohio, Mt. Sinai Health Care Foundation, Sisters of Charity Foundation, Sisters of Charity Health System, UnitedHealthcare Community Plan of Ohio and Western Reserve Area Agency on Aging.
In partnership with The Rose Centers for Aging Well, the first six-month pilot supports Nutrition Solution. Socially isolated adults 50 and older who have specific chronic illnesses and deal with food insecurity receive weekly wellness calls, nutrition education, and home delivery of medically tailored meals. Local investor hospitals and insurers identify high-risk individuals to enroll in the voluntary Nutrition Solution program at no cost to them.
At United Way, we believe the Collaborative Investments + Health model reduces individual organizations’ risk in new investments and allows us to learn together for the benefit of patient and community health. The six-month pilot will be evaluated once results are compiled in early 2022, with the goal of expanding the program more broadly.
United Way of Greater Cleveland is funding five Community Hub grants that are tackling issues related to health pathways. Learn more about the agencies and their programs:
