Collaborating to Advance Health Equity for Families with Newborns Through Public-Private Partnerships

Abstract

This paper describes a health equity-focused partnership between an academic health center and a large metro public health department aimed at improving health care delivery in the postpartum period to reduce maternal-infant mortality. We describe our experience launching Family Connects Chicago at one of four Chicago pilot hospitals across the planning, implementation, and evaluation phases. Key sustainability factors are discussed including cooperative data-sharing, shared funding mechanisms, ongoing engagement strategies across teams, shared leadership, and interprofessional collaboration models. We share implementation strategies to overcome challenges including the commitment of a diverse interprofessional team, a focus on mutual, clear goals, an understanding of shared responsibility and accountability, shared resources, and frequent, open, and honest communication. Successful outcomes including over 1,500 virtual and in-home visits over the first 22 months highlight the need for operational best practice blueprints for meaningful and productive public-private partnerships promoting health equity.

Opportunities and challenges in public–private partnerships to reduce social inequality in health in upper-middle-income and high-income countries: a systematic review and meta-synthesis

“…For partners across three studies, a greater understanding of the perspectives and competencies of each partner facilitated the implementation of the partnership 11 13 14. The diversity among partners created a space for thinking creatively together based on synergies in perspectives and competencies, which was underlined as a driving factor for an American partnership on Medicaid enrolment 11.…”

“…In six partnerships, clear communication and coordination emerged as important 10–13 15 35. Ensuring that all partners were aligned in terms of expectations and coordination of roles and responsibilities provided greater flexibility and more timely delivery of the intervention 11.…”

“…Such systematic differences in health trajectories are caused by complex interplays between microlevel and macrolevel factors 1–4. This complexity impedes single institutions in resolving social inequality in health alone,5–9 and therefore engagement of multiple partners across public, private and academic institutions has been suggested as a way forward 9–17. Thus, to address some of the complex drivers of social inequality in health, potentials in long-term, extensive and innovative collaborations in public–private partnerships (PPPs) based on targeted interventions have been identified 5 6 9 18 19…”

Development and Validation of an Operational Model for Nursing Academic-Practice Partnerships

“…Committee members, who are all recognized as CON leaders in academic-practice partnerships, reflected upon and categorized all partnerships, and solicited feedback in multiple rounds from all nursing faculty to create the CON OMAP (see the Supplemental Digital Content Figure, available at: http://links.lww.com/NE/B322). Since its inception in 2019, the CON OMAP has been used to organize, track, and guide partnership activities 13–15. In alignment with best practices, underlying assumptions of the CON OMAP are that all parties have equal voice, and that the academic-practice partnership is based on shared mission, vision, values, resources, and responsibilities.…”

“…Since its inception in 2019, the CON OMAP has been used to organize, track, and guide partnership activities. [13][14][15] In alignment with best practices, underlying assumptions of the CON OMAP are that all parties have equal voice, and that the academic-practice partnership is based on shared mission, vision, values, resources, and responsibilities. Partner organizations' needs are central to each partnership in tandem with the goals of the academic institution and individual faculty.…”