What is a CHIP?
___A CHIP is a Community Health Improvement Process that can also be used for building a healthy community.
___CHIP is slightly different from other similar processes in that it incorporates accountability into the planning, implementation, and evaluation of the community health efforts it fosters.
Why use a CHIP?
___It takes a community perspective.
___It’s inclusive and participatory.
___It demands a comprehensive view of health.
___It sees equity as key.
___It’s flexible.
___It builds in accountability.
___It builds in performance monitoring.
___It can incorporate or fit in with other models.
___It sees the process as ongoing and long-term.
Who should be part of a CHIP?
___Those who are directly affected by the issue at hand.
___Those whose lives or jobs will be affected by the CHIP effort.
___Change agents.
___Influential people.
___Community members at large.
How do you implement a CHIP?
___Incorporate IOM’s general guidelines.
- Define health broadly.
- Develop specific quantitative measures and hold responsible groups accountable to them.
- Balance long- and short-term goals.
- Include all stakeholders and other potential contributors to the work in assessment, planning, and implementation.
- A CHIP should be centered in a community health coalition or similar entity.
- State and local public health agencies should assure that a community health improvement process is in place in all communities.
- State health agencies, in cooperation and collaboration with local health departments, should assure the availability of community-level data needed for health profiles.
- States and the federal government should require that appropriate private entities report standard data on their enrolled populations, to facilitate the CHIP.
___Form an inclusive, participatory coalition or coordinating group, or tie into one that already exists.
___Do your research.
___Identify the issue(s) you’re going to work on.
___Analyze the issue(s) carefully.
___Take stock of potential resources, particularly those already available in the community.
___Develop a strategic plan and action plans to carry it out.
___Agree on who will be accountable for which parts of the plan.
___Work out how accountability will be monitored.
___Implement your strategy.
___Monitor both the process and the outcomes of your effort.
___Maintain your gains.
___Start the cycle again, with another issue.