The Association for Community Health Improvement (ACHI) is a professional organization for community health, community benefit, healthy communities and public health, founded in 2002. It is an affiliate of the American Hospital Association

American Hospital Association

The American Hospital Association is an organization that promotes the quality provision of health care by hospitals and health care networks through such efforts as promoting effective public policy and providing information related to health care and health administration to health care...

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Mission and Focus Areas

The Association's mission is to convene and support leaders from the health care

Health care

Health care is the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of disease, illness, injury, and other physical and mental impairments in humans. Health care is delivered by practitioners in medicine, chiropractic, dentistry, nursing, pharmacy, allied health, and other care providers...

, public health

Public health

Public health is "the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting health through the organized efforts and informed choices of society, organizations, public and private, communities and individuals" . It is concerned with threats to health based on population health...

, community

Community

The term community has two distinct meanings:*a group of interacting people, possibly living in close proximity, and often refers to a group that shares some common values, and is attributed with social cohesion within a shared geographical location, generally in social units larger than a household...

 and philanthropic sectors to help achieve shared community health goals, and work with members to strengthen community health through education, peer networking, and the dissemination of practical tools.

ACHI serves members' needs in a number of focus areas within community health

Community health

Community health, a field of public health, is a discipline that concerns itself with the study and betterment of the health characteristics of biological communities. While the term community can be broadly defined, community health tends to focus on geographic areas rather than people with shared...

, including:

• Access to care: primary and specialty care for underserved populations, insurance
  Insurance
  In law and economics, insurance is a form of risk management primarily used to hedge against the risk of a contingent, uncertain loss. Insurance is defined as the equitable transfer of the risk of a loss, from one entity to another, in exchange for payment. An insurer is a company selling the...
  
   coverage and barriers to access, disparities in care due to language and cultural differences, transportation, and more.
• Chronic disease prevention and management: community-based approaches to create the conditions for health and reverse the course of chronic disease.
• Community benefit: tools and methods to improve community benefit practices within hospital
  Hospital
  A hospital is a health care institution providing patient treatment by specialized staff and equipment. Hospitals often, but not always, provide for inpatient care or longer-term patient stays....
  
  s and health systems.
• Collaborative strategies: effective partnerships based on healthy communities principles to achieve real advances in community health while strengthening the health system.
• Measurement and evaluation: logic models, indicators, and assessments to help establish goals, understand outcomes, and communicate progress.

The Association offers educational webinars, an annual conference, online career center, community health assessment tool, and professional networking opportunities.

History

The Association for Community Health Improvement was conceived in 2002 as a successor to three national community health initiatives: the Community Care Network Demonstration Program, ACT National Outcomes Network, and Coalition for Healthier Cities and Communities. These three programs had made contributions to community health since the mid-1990s, focusing on topics including health care delivery and preventive health systems, careful planning for and measurement of progress toward defined community health goals, and broad community engagement in resolving systemic challenges to community health and social well-being.

ACHI has over 700 members from 47 states, the District of Columbia, and Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

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External links

• Association for Community Health Improvement homepage