Strategies to Promote Health and Prevent Illness in Communities
The Institute of Medicine convened a committee to develop a framework for assessing the impact of community-based strategies to promote health and prevent illness, as standard approaches often do not fully capture their value, cost, and savings.
Dates of Project: December 2010 to December 2012
Description: The IOM committee’s framework captures the value, cost, and savings of community-based programs and policies, especially over the longer term. Its work culminated in the publication of An Integrated Framework for Assessing the Value of Community-Based Prevention.
Key Findings
According to the report:
- Analysts weighing the value of community-based interventions should take a comprehensive view that considers their benefits and harms in three domains: health, both physical and mental; community well-being; and community process.
- The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) should evaluate sources of information on public health, community well-being, and community process; identify gaps in those sources and data; and develop new ones to close the gaps.
- To foster transparency, analysts should ensure the public availability of their evidence on the value of community-based interventions, and measure and explain the level of uncertainty in their results.
- Policy-makers should explain the rationale behind decisions on community-based interventions, and make sure that the criteria used to value those interventions reflect the preferences of an inclusive range of stakeholders.
Recommended
IOM creates a framework for assessing impact of community-based public health strategies