Health and health care partnerships to achieve the triple aim: Better health, better care, at lower cost to the community

The Triple Aim of simultaneously improving population health, improving the patient experience of care, and reducing per capita cost was introduced by the Institute of Healthcare Improvement (IHI) in 2008 as statement of purpose for fundamentally new health systems that contribute to the overall health of populations while reducing costs. Achieving the Triple Aim within a community or region requires the identification, collaboration, and activation of stakeholders within and outside of healthcare. Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center (CCHMC) has partnered with IHI since 2006 to test Triple Aim-focused strategies to achieve better health, better care, and lower per capita costs for the children of Hamilton County, OH. Using the Triple Aim as its guiding framework, CCHMC's James L. Anderson Center for Health Systems Excellence has partnered with cross-community stakeholders to measurably improve the health of local children and reduce disparities in targeted populations. Together stakeholders have mapped targeted health issues across identified neighborhoods to better understand the causes and draw on the most effective and innovative ideas within the community to improve health. The collaboration's current portfolio of community health improvement initiatives focuses on the areas of infant mortality, childhood obesity, childhood injury prevention, and asthma morbidity. Interventions being tested relate to access to care and community services; self-management, including patient and family engagement in the work; risk segmentation of the population; care coordination across multiple providers to link patients with needed medical and community services; and engaged community leaders with a shared vision to improve the health of communities.