Texas Health Institute

Programs: Thi operates the mountain states genetics regional collaborative center (msgrcc) which is one of the seven regional collaborative centers covering the nation that is federally funded by the u. S. Department of health and human services, health resources and services administration (hrsa), genetic services branch. The texas health institute administers this cooperative agreement, which serves arizona, colorado, montana, nevada, new mexico, texas, utah, & wyoming, and supports development and coordination of collaborative projects to ensure that individuals with heritable disorders and their families have access to quality care and appropriate genetics expertise and information in the context of a medical home.

thi's health equity programs seek to inform, improve, and enhance health care initiatives for low-income, uninsured, and racially/ethnically diverse communities across the country. W. K. Kellogg foundation has funded thi's evaluation of the affordable care act from a health equity perspective, documenting progress and opportunities for future advocacy, policy, and health improvement for diverse populations. Connecticut health foundation and the california endowment are supporting the development and administration of thi's marketplace health equity assessment tool to help health insurance marketplaces identify their strengths and gaps in reaching and enrolling diverse and hard-to-reach populations in coverage. Kaiser permanente community benefit fund has supported thi's research on best practices for improving outreach to diverse populations. And the blue shield of california foundation has supported research to help inform and improve health care delivery for low-income diverse populations at safety-net hospital settings across the country.

southern obesity summit (sos)- the organization is conducting its 7th annual 16 state summit to address obesity. Each year we conduct this in a different state of the 16 states. Promising practices, best practices, research are all shared among the 16 states (alabama, arkansas, florida, georgia, kentucky, louisiana, mississippi, missouri, new mexico, north carolina, oklahoma, south carolina, tennessee, texas, virginia and west virginia); participants develop relationships to inform, improve, and enhance their efforts to address obesity in their states. The summit is funded by registrations, sponsorships and grants. Success stories are abundant. Southern obesity strategy- three years ago, leadership of the advisory group initiated a cross state strategy originally based on first lady, michelle obama's, "pillars. " seven workgroups (early childhood, schools, nutrition policy, physical activity, worksite wellness, food access/food safety, and healthcare/healthcare systems) composed of members from all 16 states are developing strategies to deploy at levels of intervention. Robert wood johnson has provided a one year grant. This will be sustained by grants from each of the 16 states. Live smart texas - thi's president co chairs this statewide collaborative of over 180 agencies, organizations, universities, and individuals devoted to reducing the prevalence of obesity of school aged children in texas to 15% by 2015. Steering committee meetings are held monthly, full membership meetings are held twice a year and once a year three categories of awards are given for outstanding contributions to addressing obesity: academician, business and youth (13-18). Programs, research and successful projects are showcased; evaluation and research is presented.

all other programs -partnership for a healthy texas-thi facilitated development of this coalition of over 40 advocacy organizations and provides an intern to staff it. This advocacy model was recognized by the institute of medicine (iom). It is being replicated in some of the other 15 states of sos. Since its debut four legislative sessions ago, policy and regulatory changes have been accomplished in each legislative session. Texas childhood obesity prevention, policy and evaluation (tcoppe), a robert wood johnson funded research project, addresses safe routes to schools and the women infant and children's program and their impact on obesity. Thi serves as the "translational research" arm of this project. Research conducted over the last three years by texas a & m system school of public health and the university of texas school of public health austin regional campus, is producing its first findings on safe routes to school and women infant and children's programs in texas. Thi develops policy briefs and policy implementation strategies for consideration by the next legislative session and for state agency implementation. Diversity/disparity/equity - thi has a research team that produces studies, reports, and publications regarding these issues for various funders. Thi monitors and reports on the implementation of race, ethnicity and equity provisions of the affordable care act nationally, addressing requirements, innovations and challenges in the areas of exchanges/marketplace, workforce, safety net, public health, prevention and quality. We also assist local areas in targeted priorities including safety net adaptation under health reform, navigator programs and community based opportunities and challenges. Additional work focuses on strategies to identify and build community resilience for addressing environmental challenges. Community - through contracts and grants, thi provides needs assessments, community engagement, facilitation, evaluation and community capacity building services to entities desiring to address health issues in their communities. Communities we have on-going work in include: wood, smith, van zandt, lamar, hopkins, potter and randall counties; montgomery county united way; city of houston; border health philanthropy partnership. We are proud to be a part of community lead effort on-going now to address the following issues: obesity, access to care, mental health, teen pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases, worksite wellness and environmental/public health issues (sanitation, water, sewer, estuary). Medical/health home summit - thi partners with the texas medical home initiative, acp northern texas non-profit to produce an annual summit to advance knowledge and implementation of medical homes. About 10 years ago, the commonwealth foundation released research demonstrating that the only evidence based model or method to address health disparities and improve the health of people was the medical home. Thi was invited and attended this release at the press club in washington, d. C. With the implementation of the affordable care act, this model is finally being implemented. In texas it has been included in the "delivery system reform incentive pool" projects in the medicaid 1115 waiver. Thi partnered with texas medical home initiative and began a statewide educational summit to provide annual opportunities for advancing implementation of medical health homes in texas. This year's summit produced an advisory committee and 278 participants. The 2015 summit is being planned for june 18-19, 2015. Caregiving conference - thi is partnering with texas team (a nurse leadership initiative) to conduct lay caregiving conferences in various cities in texas. Women provide the majority of lay caregiving, and make most of the health decisions for their families. It is estimated that women provided lay caregiving is valued at $148 to $188 billion annually. With an american turning 65 every 10 seconds, an increasing under 65 and veteran population with disabilities needing care most texans are not prepared for this role. Additionally, the affordable care act is counting on more in-home caregiving to accomplish cost savings. Therefore, this initiative to provide 3-4, one day caregiving conferences in different cities in texas to address this need, is seen as essential to help address these needs and workforce shortages. Innovation - thi is uniquely positioned as a 501(c)(3) non profit, objective, honest broker, non-partisan entity. This makes us an attractive partner to innovators. Each year, we are approached by organizations- for profit and non-profit to partner on innovation, demonstration projects. We are in discussions on a number of these.