How ACHS CAN HELP
A Resource During COVID-19
Accountable Communities of Health (ACHs) stand ready to partner as Washington navigates the COVID-19 crisis. ACHs coordinate and elevate regional and local voices in health care delivery, serve as a bridge between health care and social services providers, and reflect the strengths and needs of their communities. We bring together health care providers, health insurers, public health, social services, community-based organizations, the criminal justice system, schools and local government leaders, as well as sovereign Tribal nations, to improve the health of our communities.
Over the past four years, ACHs have led efforts to transform our local health care systems connecting health care and social services, developing plans to support health across sectors, and investing millions of dollars with providers and community partners. We look forward to partnering with state agencies, community organizations, and others to address the pandemic.
Regional Coordination
ACHs have the flexibility and experience to ensure the COVID-19 crisis response meets the needs of individual communities, while also supporting aligned and consistent communications statewide. We are trusted, locally-led organizations and have established relationships with providers and a track record of facilitating multi-sector collaborations. During this unprecedented time, ACHs are ready to support the important work of our Local Health Jurisdictions. We can coordinate regionally across clinical and community partners to support community engagement and align response strategies.
Local Support for Providers
ACHs can provide on-the-ground assistance to clinical and community providers who are busy caring for patients and on the front lines of the crisis, including:
- Disseminating information on best practices so providers are up to date with treatment and care recommendations and statewide guidelines, as well as changes to billing requirements.
- Providing training and technical assistance on utilizing telehealth or telephone encounters instead of office visits as well as other business changes necessitated by the pandemic.
- Helping to leverage COVID-19 capacity building investments to address business impacts of the pandemic for health and social services providers.
- Acting as a bridge between clinical efforts and community response and resources, making sure there is high quality community care coordination.
- Providing support to programs critical to maintaining community health and resiliency, such as food banks, meal delivery services, community action agencies, local coalitions and other programs that support at-risk community members.
- Connecting community members to needed supports such as housing, delivery of food or clothing, or other needs to help individuals and communities remain healthy and safe through local care coordination and connection mechanisms (e.g., 211 and/or other regional community information exchange systems).
- Ensuring maximization of investments via local, state and federal resources. ACHs are well positioned to act as intermediaries based on our understanding of the needs of vulnerable community members and our existing contractual relationships with providers.