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 Good Idea, Environmental Health / Built Environment
Goal: The mission of the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center is to increase the sustainable use and conservation of native wildflowers, plants, and landscapes.
Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Mental Health & Mental Disorders
Goal: The end goal of The Living Room is to reduce recidivism to the hospital and pair those in need with the right resources to help them be able to handle their mental health crises and move away from using The Living Room. Additionally, a main goal of The Living Room is matching those in need with a particular peer specialist to create a lasting connection.
Impact: Connects individuals experiencing mental health illness or crises to peer specialists which help reduce recidivism to the emergency room or hospital, help manage future crises, and provide a connection to continued non-clinical support and resources.
Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Mental Health & Mental Disorders, Urban
Goal: To reduce the number of individuals with mental illness who use the ER, to help individuals achieve long-term recovery, and to develop a community peer-based support network.
Impact: The Living Room is a comfortable, non-clinical space that offers an alternative to hospital emergency rooms. The program in LaGrange, Illinois hopes to decrease unnecessary hospitalizations.
Filed under Effective Practice, Environmental Health / Built Environment
Goal: The Louisiana Recovery Authority is working with Governor Blanco to plan for Louisiana's future, coordinate across jurisdictions, support community recovery and resurgence, and ensure integrity and effectiveness. Working in collaboration with local, state and federal agencies, the authority is addressing short-term recovery needs while simultaneously guiding the long-term planning process.
Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Mental Health & Mental Disorders, Adults, Racial/Ethnic Minorities
Goal: The MUSC Psychiatry Residency program has the following goals related to diversification of the health care professional pool:
- increased racial and ethnic diversity reflecting the general South Carolina population
- promotion of racial/ethnic and gender diversity in leadership positions within the School of Medicine
- promotion of cultural competency and understanding
- more opportunities within the College of Medicine at all levels for individuals from all backgrounds
Impact: The proportion of URM applicants to MUSC psychiatry residencies increased from 8% in 2008 to 17% in 2015. The percentage of URM psychiatry residents enrolled in MUSC has tripled over the last seven years, from 9% in 2008 to 28% in 2015.
Filed under Effective Practice, Community / Governance, Families
Goal: The Memphis Enviromental Court was designed to serve as the chief vehicle for enforcing a wide range of laws relating to the health and quality of life of its residents, and to give new meaning to the term "expedient justice" by its ability to respond in a quick and consistent manner. In 1991 the Tennessee State Legislature created the Shelby County Environmental Court, and expanded the new court's powers to include the "injunctive authority" to mandate that defendants comply with the environmental codes.
Filed under Good Idea, Health / Immunizations & Infectious Diseases
Goal: The Michigan Antibiotic Resistance Reduction Coalition (MARR) seeks to improve the use of antimicrobial agents and reduce antimicrobial resistance rates in health care facilities and communities throughout the state of Michigan through the collaborative efforts of academic, community, government, labor and industry partners. MARR seeks to accomplish this mission by serving as a catalyst and facilitator for programs of judicious antimicrobial use, and providing such programs; maintaining a repository of current and credible information about antimicrobial resistance; and participating in clinical interventions and research that will ensure improved antimicrobial use and reduce antimicrobial resistance.
Filed under Good Idea, Health / Heart Disease & Stroke
Goal: The goal of this program is to improve standards of care for patients with cardiovascular diseases and diabetes in Missouri.
Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Health Care Access & Quality
Goal: The aim of the Montana Model is to provide health care to the 11 percent of the county citizens living below the federal poverty level and the many more living in near poverty, while simultaneously providing a medical clinic with diversity and complexity for family practice residents to obtain enriched training with the public health perspective.
Filed under Good Idea, Health / Health Care Access & Quality, Children
Goal: The purpose of this four year project is to work in support of the Maternal and Child Health Bureau to meet its Children with Special Health Care Needs (CSHCN) National Agenda performance outcome that “all families of CSHCN will have adequate private and/or public insurance to pay for the services they need.” The work of the cooperative agreement will be multi-faceted and will (1) overcome the gaps in knowledge about CSHCN’s health care use and charges, (2) assess the extent to which CSHCN are receiving the health care services they need and the degree to which reimbursement is adequate to meet those needs, (3) identify trends in and developing recommendations for financing strategies, and (4) disseminate this information to families, health care providers, public and private health plans, and policy makers.