About this Course

Healthcare and Community Initiatives: Strategies & Best Practices

This module focuses on proven health care and community initiatives strategies and best practices. It addresses common barriers to implementing effective health care and community initiatives and provides actionable insights for overcoming these challenges. 

What You Will Learn

 After completing this course, participants will:

·         Recognize effective healthcare and community initiatives strategies and how to apply them in their context.

·        Increase awareness of relevant frameworks that support health care and community initiatives.

·         Understand the importance of continuous improvement and evaluation in health care and community initiatives efforts.

Who Should Attend

• Health plans
• Health systems
• Hospitals
• Managed behavioral healthcare organizations
• Population health organizations
• Wellness organizations leveragers are the federal government, states and employers
  
  

Faculty

Vanessa Guzman, ME, MS

Mrs. Guzman is an expert in health equity and population health strategies, including patient and physician engagement techniques, clinical reporting, health IT, quality management models, and CEO at SmartRise Health. With her personal story as a Latin American woman of color and diverse credentials in engineering, science, and coaching - Vanessa brings incomparable humility, authenticity, intellectual harmony, objectivity, enthusiasm, and commitment that inspire teams, participants, and facilitators to become part of the change they want to see.

With almost 20 years of industry experience and an approach centered around person-empowerment, she works closely with individuals, health systems, Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs), payers, and technology and community partners to promote equitable care. Her unique approach includes closely collaborating with physicians and hospitals to implement data-driven tools, payers, clinical infrastructures, pharmaceutical companies, and community partnerships to promote wellness and improve patient health outcomes, and a collaborative learning platform to promote health equity while integrating value-based care and change management concepts. The framework uses stakeholder engagement as a fundamental component to enable a culture of change while building the infrastructure necessary to drive change over time and evaluate the impact of activities focused on advancing equity, improvement in health outcomes, and quality of care. 

 Mrs. Guzman also served as the Associate Vice President at the Montefiore Health System (MHS), overseeing physician partnerships, community engagement, population health and quality improvement, clinical performance, and health information technology and reporting. Her business model facilitates revenue and sponsorship opportunities toward, Created to Thrive, a foundation she formed to promote enrichment programs servings thousands of children, women, and homeless adults worldwide. Created to Thrive allows her true mission, coaching, and transformation experience to shine through her advisory, products, and services.

Sybill Hodgson
Montefiore Health System

As the Assistant Vice President of Clinical Services for Monterfiore Medical Group (MMG), I am responsible for clinical and quality oversight of all ambulatory practices within MMG. In addition, I oversee nursing leadership for our ambulatory network.
Montefiore Medical Group (MMG is the largest ambulatory network in the Bronx which includes an array of service locations and innovative programs. The robust network is comprised of Federally Qualified Health Centers, Urgent Care Centers, and the Montefiore School Health Program in over 90 school locations. The network covers 300,000 lives which are 80% government insured and completes over 800,000 visits annually in the poorest district in New York State. I have over 15 years’ experience in clinical operations of ambulatory practices. During my career, I have developed and implemented various clinical projects aimed at improving delivery of primary care services for patients in the Bronx.  I completed my residency training in the Department of Family and Social Medicine before joining Montefiore in 2009 as an attending physician at West Farms Family Practice. I am a National Health Service Corps scholarship recipient. I hold an academic appointment with the Albert Einstein College of Medicine and am also an active member of the American Academy of Family Physicians.  Currently, I serve on the peer review committee for Montefiore Medical Group. These experiences have provided me with the foundation and qualifications to serve as an investigator on this innovative and potentially high impact project. As Regional Medical Director I will have the opportunity to see first-hand the impact of this screening tool on my patients’ health and quality of life.

Stephen Rosenthal
Montefiore Health System 

Stephen Rosenthal serves as Senior Vice President of Population Health Management at Montefiore Health System, where he leads strategies that advance health equity, improve outcomes, and deliver value-based care across eight hospitals and a vast network of
providers. A nationally recognized innovator, Stephen founded Montefiore’s Care Management Organization (CMO), growing it into a $1.4B enterprise and pioneering programs that have transformed care for chronically ill populations. Under his leadership,
Montefiore launched one of the nation’s first and most successful Pioneer Accountable Care Organizations, consistently meeting quality benchmarks while achieving significant cost savings. His work spans integrated delivery systems, risk-based contracting, and
cutting-edge care coordination models that have reduced hospital readmissions by 25% and improved chronic disease management. With decades of experience and a commitment to health equity, Stephen brings unparalleled insight into designing scalable
solutions that align clinical excellence with financial sustainability.

Continuing Education

In support of improving patient care, the National Committee for Quality Assurance is jointly accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME), the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE), the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) to provide Interprofessional Continuing Education for the healthcare team. 

This educational activity is approved for: 1.0 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit^TM.

This educational activity is approved for 1.0 nursing contact hours.*

This course grants 2.0 Required Continuing Education Unit (CEU) points for PCMH Certified Content Experts.  

* Please note – You must attend the entire program to be eligible for total number of contact hours.

Disclosure of Relevant Financial Relationships

The National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) endorses the Standards of the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education which specify that sponsors of continuing medical education activities and presenters at and planners for these activities disclose any relevant financial relationships either party might have with commercial companies whose products or services are discussed in educational presentations.

For sponsors, relevant financial relationships include large research grants, institutional agreements for joint initiatives, substantial gifts, or other relationships that benefit the institution.  For presenters or planning committee members, relevant financial relationships include the receipt of research grants from a commercial company, consultancies, honoraria, travel, or other benefits, or having a self-managed equity interest in a company; or having an immediate family member or partner with such a relationship.

Disclosure of a relationship is not intended to suggest or condone bias in any presentation but is made to provide participants with information that might be of potential importance to their evaluation of a presentation.

Relevant financial relationships exist with the following companies/organizations:

Faculty:
Vanessa Guzman: None
Sybil Hodgson: None
Stephen Rosenthal: 

Additional Planning Committee Members:
Crissy Crittenden: None
Maris Harmon: None
Felicia Khaalid: None
Rutti Harmon: None