Funding Opportunity: Supporting Local Community Health Improvement Sylvia Pirani Director, Office of Public Health Practice New York State Department of Health February 15, 2013

Goal of Funding Opportunity Provide technical support to strengthen the capacity of local health departments, hospitals and community partners to establish multi- stakeholder coalitions that develop and implement actionable health improvement plans to advance Prevention Agenda priorities.

Prevention Agenda Goal is improved health status of New Yorkers and reduction in health disparities through increased emphasis on prevention. Call to action to broad range of stakeholders to collaborate at the community level to assess health status and needs, identify local health priorities and plan, implement and evaluate strategies for local health improvement. 3

Prevention Agenda Five priority areas: each includes focus areas, goals, measurable objectives and interventions Reducing health disparities: Emphasized in each priority area to target vulnerable/high-risk populations Tracking indicators: 58 Prevention Agenda objectives to be tracked annually at state level including many for health disparities and many with county data. Priority specific action plans: Include interventions shown to be effective to reach each goal. The interventions have been organized by: – Sector so that stakeholder groups can identify evidence-based or promising practices they can adapt for implementation to address the specific health issues in their communities. – The five tiers of the Health Impact Pyramid so that stakeholders can understand the impact of each intervention.

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Community Health Assessment and Improvement Process

Technical Support Needs Identified on HANYS/NYSACHO Webinars Collaboration: who should be involved; how to get organizations to the table and how to sustain involvement How to identify and address health disparities The health assessment and improvement plan process and templates for use for communities Specific examples of effective assessment, planning and implementation efforts; examples of collaboration at work in communities How to select priorities Process for identifying measurable process and outcome measures How to identify, select and implement evidence-based programs in communities.

Important Details Funding provided by RWJ Foundation as part of their support for NYS accreditation efforts About $100K available statewide Able to fund one applicant or several applicants As a group, applicants must be able to ensure that technical support is available and accessible to entire state except NYC.

Important Dates Bidders WebinarToday Letters of Intent Due:2/20/13 Applications Due:3/1/13

Questions and Answers 1. Can you define “health planning organizations”? A health planning organization is any agency or organization that conducts or helps others conduct health planning on a regular basis. A local health department, a hospital, a rural health network or a regional health planning organization, among others, meet this definition. 2. Are regional organizations the real target of this RFP? As described in the RFP, the goal is provision of technical support to every county and region of the state. Awards will be made to ensure all regions will be covered. Regional health planning organizations are one entity that could provide this support. Preference will be given to organizations that can provide this support to more than one county to make use of scarce resources.

Questions and Answers 3. Can a local health department (LHD) apply just for its own county planning? The goal is provision of technical support to counties in every region of the state. Preference will be given to organizations that can provide this support to more than one county to make use of scarce resources. 4. Can one LHD apply on behalf of a region of LHDs and hospitals? Yes 5. Can two statewide organizations apply jointly to provide assistance to LHDs and regions that would not otherwise have this type of support? Yes if they have the experience required.

Questions and Answers 6. Can a statewide organization that has fostered stakeholder coalitions in only one area of public health (e.g., immunization or obesity prevention) meet the criteria? Applicants must demonstrate they have the skills, experience and capacity to provide technical support on the community health assessment and planning process, including how to develop and implement a community health improvement plan for any of the Prevention Agenda priorities. 7. LHDs are required to submit a CHA and CHIP for just their county, but this funding opportunity seems directed at the development of regional planning (RHICs). How do you envision efforts to simultaneously conduct both county-specific and regional planning? NYS is not requiring regional planning with this RFP or with the Prevention Agenda The RFP suggests that a regional approach to provision of technical support to strengthen the capacity of county level assessments and improvement plans could be effective.

Questions and Answers 8. Is NYSDOH viewing RHIOs as this type of health planning organization? RHIOs could apply if they can demonstrate they have the skills, experience and capacity to provide the technical support being requested.

Questions and Answers 9. On page 6 it states “in each region”, how are you defining a region (e.g., service area of the coalitions, RHIC regions, county, etc.)? Are we able to define our own region covering some or part of RHIC regions? The map in the Appendix is one way to define the regions, but an applicant can define its own region. The goal is to ensure all counties have the opportunity to participate in technical support. 10. If multiple agencies are chosen, how will the funding be broken down (e.g., by population of the region served)? Funding decisions will be made once applications are received.

Questions and Answers 11. Is there flexibility in carrying out the in-person workshops? Do in- person workshops need to be in each county? Could it be a workshop or a full-day conference that people attend at a central location? In person workshops do not need to be held in each county. A workshop can be located in a central location and some of the funding can be used to support travel costs as needed. 12. What kind of data support is permitted or expected? Will the provision of data support enhance an application? Is the NYSDOH willing to assist contracted agency with obtaining data released from the state? Assistance with data collection and analysis is not the primary goal of the technical support to be provided with this funding. The major goal is to provide assistance and support on the development and sustenance of an effective coalition that can develop and implement an actionable health improvement plan. The NYS DOH is always willing to consider data requests.

Questions and Answers 13. Can grant funds be used for teleconferencing purposes (e.g., associated staff time, purchase of webinar software or teleconferencing equipment, etc.)? Is the NYSDOH willing to let contracted agencies use resources that the State already has available (e.g., telephone conference lines, videoconferencing capabilities, etc.)? Grant funds can be used for teleconferencing. The NYS DOH will explore how it can make its resources available to support this effort.