Promising Practices
The Promising Practices database informs professionals and community members about documented approaches to improving community health and quality of life.
The ultimate goal is to support the systematic adoption, implementation, and evaluation of successful programs, practices, and policy changes. The database provides carefully reviewed, documented, and ranked practices that range from good ideas to evidence-based practices.
Learn more about the ranking methodology.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Other Conditions
Goal: The goal of this study is to determine how many Community Health Workers (CHW) would be needed to reduce emergency department (ED) visits and associated hospitalizations among their assigned patients to be cost-neutral from a payer's perspective.
Impact: This study adds significant knowledge to the existing literature on CHW programs, and particularly provides critical information to payers that can be used for making decisions on appropriate payment models
Reducing Health Disparities: Diversity and Cultural and Linguistic Competence in Contra Costa (Contra Costa County, CA)
Filed under Good Idea, Health / Health Care Access & Quality, Urban
Goal: The goal of this program is to eliminate health disparities among the diverse patient population in Contra Costa County by improving access to services for people who are not comfortable speaking English, and by increasing the cultural and linguistic competence of staff in order to have a workforce capable of working effectively with diverse patients, clients, customers and communities.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Health Care Access & Quality
Goal: To evaluate the impact of rideshare-based medical transportation on the proportion of Medicaid patients attending scheduled primary care appointments.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Economy, Rural
Goal: Medical-legal partnerships perform advocacy services for vulnerable and under-served populations. These populations are typically burdened disproportionately by legal and medical problems. This study aimed to examine the effectiveness and sustainability of a rural medical-legal partnership (MLP).
Impact: The rural medical-legal partnership continued to show social and financial impacts, such as health care recovery dollars (319% return on investment between 2007 and 2009), Social Security benefits, family law services, and end-of-life guidance.
Filed under Good Idea, Health / Oral Health, Children, Families, Rural
Goal: The goal of Saving Smiles is to improve the oral health and in turn overall health of children in Lafayette County, especially for the poor and underserved.
Impact: Most students from the 11 participating schools in Lafayette County received a screening, fluoride varnish, and oral health education, and most of the children referred for dental care were seen by a dentist.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Children's Health, Children, Teens, Urban
Goal: The primary goal of the School Lunch Initiative is to transform the way Berkeley public school students eat lunch and to educate children about food, health, and the environment.
Impact: Three years after its conception, the program successfully eliminated nearly all processed foods from the school district dining halls and introduced fresh and organic foods to the daily menu. There was evidence that greater exposure to the School Lunch Initiative was significantly associated with higher nutrition knowledge scores among fourth graders and seventh graders. Furthermore, elementary school students from the schools with highly developed School Lunch Initiative components clearly expressed a higher preference for fruits and vegetables.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Respiratory Diseases, Children, Families, Urban
Goal: The objective of this study was to examine the health benefits and cost-effectiveness of the School-Based Asthma Therapy (SBAT) program compared with usual care.
Impact: School-Based Asthma Therapy resulted in 158 symptom-free days per month per 100 children and a cost-effectiveness of $10 per symptom-free day.
Filed under Good Idea, Education / Student Performance K-12, Children, Teens
Goal: The goal of See You in School is to improve the grades, self confidence and engagement of high school students through mentor/mentee relationships. Decreasing the dropout rates in Whatcom County is a long term goal that begins with the mentor/mentee relationship and a network inside the schools.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Mental Health & Mental Disorders
Goal: The goal of this program is to help clients move beyond trauma and substance abuse.
Impact: Multiple evaluations of the Seeking Safety program in various settings have shown positive outcomes for substance abuse/addiction, substance abuse disorder, and post-traumatic stress disorder.
Filed under Effective Practice, Environmental Health / Built Environment
Goal: Smart Growth has three straightforward goals:
- to save our most valuable remaining natural resources before they are forever lost,
- to support existing communities and neighborhoods by targeting state resources to support development in areas where the infrastructure is already in place or planned to support it, and
- to save taxpayers millions of dollars in the unnecessary cost of building the infrastructure required to support sprawl.