Revenue + Effort = Outcomes: Applying Business Planning to Mobilizing for Action Through Planning and Partnerships (MAPP) Community Health Improvement

Community collaboration, strategic alliances, cross-disciplinary coordination, advocacy, strategic coordination of resources, and public policy development and analysis are all components of a strategic approach to addressing health. Mobilizing for Action through Planning and Partnerships (MAPP) is a community-based strategic planning process that helps local public health systems set priorities and identify resources for addressing them. MAPP is unique in that (a) it is driven by four different assessments that provide a comprehensive picture of the community's heath opportunities and challenges; (b) it is a community-wide—rather than agency focused—effort to improve the public's health; and (c) it enables users to incorporate previous and current performance improvement efforts into the framework.

One challenge for MAPP communities is moving from data collection and strategy development into public health action. Enter the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Management Academy for Public Health. This program prepares teams of health professionals for new management challenges in community health. Every team writes and presents a business plan designed to address a key public health problem.

To better reach MAPP communities the Management Academy took their program “on-the-road” to Florida. Working together, the Florida Department of Health and the Management Academy provided intensive one-day sessions in two locations for five different counties. With local partners, public health professionals developed business plans that came directly from community health assessments or health improvement plans.

This session will provide an overview of the MAPP process with in-depth discussions of public health program implementation. Participants will have the opportunity to ask questions of MAPP staff and experienced users, and network with new and experienced MAPP users. This session will be of particular interest to state and local health department staff, community partners, and others interested in community health improvement initiatives.