National Association of Community Health Centers
The National Association of Community Health Centers (NACHC) serves as the national health care advocacy organization for America’s medically underserved and uninsured and the community health centers that serve as their health care home. NACHC has partnered with BIF to explore the power of community health centers to drive innovation – from how they serve patients to how they influence national policy.
Design Challenge
How might we shift our lens to uncover innovation opportunities that will transform how we serve patients? How might we collaboratively innovate, going farther together than we can go alone?
Across the US, community health centers provide critical health services to vulnerable populations with 1 in 15 Americans utilizing their services in both urban and rural areas.
Community health centers traditionally have deep roots in the social justice movement, valuing equity and inclusion in the populations they serve. Yet due to bottom-up and independent growth, there have been missed opportunities for aligned innovation, inconsistent experiences, and transformation at the systems level.
Approach
BIF will launch an innovation exploration, using human-centered research to define the job that ecosystem members – NACHC members, providers, stakeholders, and patients – need done. What do they value? What will enhance their work, while driving opportunities for innovation?
Impact Statement
Based on customer insights from the research, BIF and NACHC will identify opportunity spaces for driving innovation at the local and national level, with an eye to expanding health care access to all in need.
