Improved access, quality, costs, patient experience, and community well-being are laudable goals for any healthcare organization — and it’s gratifying to see a growing recognition that community engagement is key to achieve these goals. But all community engagement programs are not created equal.
In fact, the definitions, objectives, and means of measuring the impact of community engagement efforts vary from organization to organization, all too often leaving healthcare professionals and community members alike uncertain of the value. In many instances – even beginning with the best of intentions – those involved in community engagement report that their initiatives feel tokenistic, transactional, and unimpactful – getting in the way of meaningful outcomes and success.
INSPIRE (Initiating National Strategies for Partnership, Inclusion, and Real Engagement) is trying to change that. A collaborative and coordinated team of organizations, professionals and people with lived experience are working to examine community engagement practices, recognize what’s effective and what’s not, and have developed a roadmap to advance the practice and implementation of authentic community engagement in the U.S. healthcare system.
INSPIRE is comprised of a core team that includes the Camden Coalition, Community Catalyst, the Center to Advance Consumer Partnership, PFCCpartners, the Institute for Patient- and Family-Centered Care, and six experts with lived experience.
Authentic Community Engagement
What does authentic community engagement look like? How do healthcare professionals build and sustain meaningful partnerships with community members to achieve organizational-, systems-, and population-level improvements?
It begins with having a clear understanding of who makes up our “community.” Rather than only thinking about other health and social care organizations as potential partners, we must shift our focus to consider community members themselves – people with lived experience who reside in a common geographic area or who share common aspects of identity or experiences. It is crucial to center our attention on diverse and equitable participation – particularly from communities most impacted by structural racism, injustice, and health disparities.
While organizational partnerships have many benefits, they are not synonymous with individual level engagement that brings PWLE directly into communication and partnership with healthcare organizations. While healthcare organizations build partnerships with other health and social care organizations for many reasons – such as service coordination, social-need referrals, and/or as a strategy for building connections with people in the community — organizational-level engagement on its own is not a substitute for directly involving PWLE.
Thus far in its work, INSPIRE has defined authentic community engagement as having the following characteristics. It is:
1. Asset-based
2. Diverse and inclusive
3. Equitable
4. Impactful
5. Integrated
6. Mutually beneficial
7. Resourced and compensated
8. Transformational and restorative
9. Trust-based
There are several steps outlined in this report (Final report from INSPIRE) stakeholders across healthcare (executive leaders, funders, policy makers, etc.) can take if they truly mean to integrate effective, authentic community engagement efforts into their systems. These include:
- Increasing access to training and learning communities for healthcare professionals leading the work. This means hands-on training and technical assistance that meet those leading community engagement where they are, not just conceptual frameworks.
- Prioritizing leadership development and capacity building for people with lived experience — particularly those from under-represented communities. This includes providing better access to mentorship and peer learning opportunities that equip them with the skills and knowledge to effectively engage with healthcare organizations as equal partners. This is essential for addressing current gaps in diversity, equity and inclusion and for building genuine community power.
- Adopting supportive organizational systems, policies, and frameworks that enable community engagement work to flourish. It’s vital to define the roles and responsibilities of those carrying out community engagement work and develop a shared approach to impact measurement – specifically one that can help address the central barrier of resource constraints.
Also, if we are to see systemic change in the way community engagement is approached, we need policy makers to thoughtfully advance federal and state requirements for community engagement. Crafting and implementing these approaches in partnership with people with lived experiences and healthcare organizations, prioritizing incentives rather than penalties, and including structures to support high-quality implementation will ensure these approaches achieve their desired outcomes.
Community engagement work is relevant to so many stakeholders in the healthcare system – frontline healthcare providers, health system leaders, payers, policy makers, community-based organizations – and of course, community members and people with lived experiences.
When healthcare systems engage communities authentically, they can address the health disparities in their service populations and advance health equity; achieve a more effective allocation of resources, improving cost-savings and efficiencies; create improved patient experience, trust, and community perception; and help build healthy and thriving communities.
Evelyne Kane
Evelyne Kane, Associate Director of Community Engagement and Capacity Building at the Camden Coalition, focuses on ensuring that people with lived experience are equal partners in the work of improving systems and services for those navigating health and social complexities. She is honored to work alongside community leaders from across the U.S. through the National Consumer Scholars, to support partnerships between complex care organizations and people with lived experience through Amplify: A consumer voices bureau, and to lead the co-design of a national strategy to advance community engagement through the INSPIRE project.
Previously, Evelyne worked on public benefits access at Benefits Data Trust and supported community-driven social care at the Penn Center for Community Health Workers. She holds a Master of Public Health from Temple University.
