The One Utah Health Collaborative (previously known as the Utah Sustainable Health Collaborative) recently completed their organizing and listening phase to construct a plan for how the Collaborative will operate.
Ryan Morley, Partner at SpringTide Ventures and Co-Chair of the Collaborative, said they are now working on creating their priority and innovation areas based on the extensive feedback they have received from Utah communities.
Since the announcement of the organizing committee in March, the Collaborative focused on listening to Utah communities on input for how they should organize and what problems need to be solved. Morley said the committee heard from nearly 500 people through either conversations or their online suggestions portal.
“We were really trying to be as thoughtful as we can around listening to how the collaborative needs to be formed to be able to deliver the resources needed for the community and to achieve the goals of the Collaborative,” Morley said.
While using the recommendations from these listening sessions, the Collaborative is in the process of creating a charter, which will serve as their main business and operating plan to lower the overall cost of care through alternative payment models (APMs).
The charter—which has yet to be released—will encompass a governance plan and the innovation areas in which they will mainly be focusing on. Morley described it as the “raison d’etre” for the organization to exist and function.
In the charter, the Collaborative will also organize how their funding will be allocated. Morley said the Collaborative has received funding from the state and many other community organizations around the state to employ staff and effect change.
The Collaborative is currently looking for an Executive Director to head the organization and execute the charter once it is signed and revealed.
In September, the Collaborative will host a pledge signing event with the Governor’s office and stakeholders to commit to the Collaborative principles of lower overall health care costs, equity, and improved health outcomes.
“[The Collaborative] validated the fact that one of the great resources we have in our state is this tremendous innovation,” Morley said. “So it’s our goal to be able to support innovation that exists in the community. You also have tremendous, world class health care institutions in the state, and I think they have a great environment for us to be able to just support and accelerate successes.”