Introduction

The Kentuckiana Health Alliance is dedicated to improving health status and healthcare in Greater Louisville and Southern Indiana and is convened by the UAW/Ford Community Health Intiative. The group is comprised of representatives that have a major stake in improving the healthcare system such as healthcare providers, health plans, hospitals, employers, government, labor unions, non-profit advocacy groups including Greater Louisville Medical Society, and other healthcare-related stakeholders.

Currently, the Kentuckiana Health Alliance encompasses a Steering Committee and three task forces:

  • Kentuckiana Health Alliance Quality Improvement Consortium (KHAQI-C)
  • Kentuckiana Metro on the Move (KMOM)
  • Kentuckiana Health Alliance Smoking Prevention Taskforce.

Mission

The mission of the Kentuckiana Health Alliance is to mobilize the community to improve health and well being by coordinating action-oriented efforts.

Priorities

Stakeholders from various sectors (e.g. hospitals, health plans, pharmaceuticals, physicians, businesses, unions, health organizations, universities, etc.) were invited to attend community forums. These forums served to:

The top four priorities of the Kentuckiana Health Alliance focus on:

  • Quality Improvement
  • Chronic Disease
  • Obesity / Sedentary Lifestyle
  • Smoking

Educate the community about the findings from the Louisville MSA Community Assessment Factbook and 2) Engage the community in the selection of initial priority areas to narrow the focus of the initiative. Before the priorities were selected, The Lewin Group provided an overview of improvement opportunities found in their study. The list was then narrowed through a dot voting process. The top three priorities were selected through a ballot voting process in 2002. A 4th priority was added by the KHA in 2004 to focus on improving quality and reducing costs in healthcare.

Strategies

Our strategies to accomplish this mission are to:

  • Provide resources for data collection, public reporting and funding sources.
  • Create partnerships between public and private entities that improve health.
  • Collaborate with partners around key opportunities.
  • Increase awareness of and demand for quality in healthcare.

Kentuckiana Health Alliance Steering Committee Roles

  • Set and manage priority setting.
  • Help break barriers that impede progress on priorities by utilizing influence.
  • Maintain consistency in purpose and provide strategic guidance to the initiative; narrow key priorities; develop a structure for the initiative.