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, Community / Public Safety, Older Adults
Goal: The mission of the program is to shape the evolving health system by developing and spreading high-value models of community-based care and self-management for diverse populations with chronic conditions.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Mental Health & Mental Disorders, Adults, Older Adults
Goal: The goal of IMPACT is to improve depression treatment by providing collaborative care to older adults.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Health Care Access & Quality, Older Adults
Goal: To assess whether an Individualized Management for Patient-Centered Targets (IMPaCT), delivered by community health workers improved patients' chronic disease management and self-rated physical and mental health.
Impact: Individuals with multiple chronic conditions when paired with a community health worker will perceive that their care is higher quality and may have fewer hospitalizations.
Meal Delivery Programs Reduce the Use of Costly Health Care in Dually Eligible Medicare And Medicaid Beneficiaries (Massachusetts)
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Health Care Access & Quality, Adults, Older Adults, Urban
Goal: In this study, it was sought to examine whether home delivery of medically tailored meals or non-tailored food reduces the use of selected health care services and medical spending among Commonwealth Care Alliance members. Because there is knowingly an association between food insecurity and emergency room visits, it was hypothesized that the medically tailored meals would cause a reduction in ER visits and other costly healthcare services and expenditures.
Impact: Researchers estimate monthly net savings of $220 per participant for medically tailored meals and $10 per participant for the non-tailored food program. This study suggests that vulnerable patients, in this case, the dually eligible Medicaid and Medicare, can benefit from meal delivery programs.
Medicaid Savings Resulted When Community Health Workers Matched Those With Needs To Home And Community Care (Arkansas)
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Economy / Government Assistance, Older Adults
Goal: The goal of this program is to reduce costs by using specially trained community health workers to help connect people with unmet long-term needs and/or those at risk of entering nursing homes to Medicaid home and community-based services.
Impact: Similar interventions may help other localities achieve cost-saving and equitable access to publicly funded long-term care options other than institutional care.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Older Adults, Older Adults
Goal: The objective of the study was to characterize the population of older adults on waiting lists for home-delivered meals and compare their health and health-related needs to the population of older adults living in the community.
Impact: Between baseline and follow-up, respondents receiving daily-delivered meals were more likely to exhibit:
• Improvement in mental health (i.e., anxiety)
• Improvement in self-rated health
• Reductions in the rate of falls
• Improvement in feelings of isolation and loneliness
• Decreases in worry about being able to remain in home
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Diabetes, Adults, Women, Men, Older Adults, Racial/Ethnic Minorities
Goal: The National Diabetes Prevention Program encourages collaboration among federal agencies, community-based organizations, employers, insurers, health care professionals, academia, and other stakeholders to prevent or delay the onset of type 2 diabetes among people with prediabetes in the United States.
Impact: The National Diabetes Prevention Program is a cost-effective method to reduce the risk of developing type 2 diabetes among individuals with prediabetes.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Cancer, Adults, Older Adults
Goal: The goal of this program is to increase colorectal cancer screening rates among older primary care patients.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Older Adults, Older Adults
Goal: The goal of the PEARLS program is to provide home-based counseling in order to manage and treat depression among older adults.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Older Adults, Older Adults
Goal: The goal of the Programa de Manejo Personal de la Artritis is to improve personal arthritis management among Spanish-speaking adults with arthritis.