Evaluation of the Partnership for Community Health Grant Program

ICH was the evaluator for the Partnership for Community Health (PCH) grant program, an initiative of Neighborhood Health Plan and Partners HealthCare in partnership with the Massachusetts League of Community Health Centers. Through this program, ICH has evaluated 22 individual grants and worked with over 30 community health centers across Massachusetts. Grant projects focused on implementing new technologies such as telemedicine, integrating new roles such as community health workers into care teams, and improving health center operations. Through customized evaluation plans utilizing a combination of quantitative data and qualitative interviews, ICH helped grantees articulate their unique impacts, identify program improvements, and build a case for sustaining their programs. ICH’s reports enabled the grant-making board to identify grantees that needed extra support and articulate how this funding mechanism has helped prepare health centers to be successful as healthcare delivery and payment systems evolve. ICH also organized and facilitated learning events that gave grantees the opportunity to share their stories, and enabled community health centers across the state to learn from their peers and strengthen ongoing work.

ICH presented the PCH evaluation at the American Evaluation Association 2018 annual meeting, in a session entitled “Equity, Advocacy, Power: Lessons Evaluating Strategies of Health-Oriented Funders”