Image: 8 health centers work with their coaches and trainer to perfect their Elevator Pitch at a session in San Diego, 8/25/2023
NACHC’s Center for Community Health Innovation Launches New Innovation Incubator Program
NACHC has teamed up with the global healthcare company, Abbott, to help remove barriers to health access and equity. Health centers are on the frontlines of the digital divide. Even though 95% of health centers started offering telehealth visits by 2021, research shows that one in four people still may not have access to technology or the internet.
In May, our Center for Community Health Innovation selected eight health centers to participate in this novel incubator program where health centers receive funding, access to leading experts and training over a six month period to help design and test new solutions addressing digital literacy challenges in their own communities.
The eight participating health centers are:
- Community University Health Care Center (Minneapolis, MN)
- Erie Family Health Center (Chicago, Waukegan and Evanston, IL)
- Golden Valley Health Centers (Merced, Stanislaus and San Joaquin Counties, CA)
- Howard Brown Health (Chicago, IL)
- La Maestra Family Clinic (San Diego County, CA)
- Sea Mar Community Health Centers (13 counties across the state, WA)
- St. Francis House NWA (Benton and Washington counties, AR)
- Upper Great Lakes Family Health Center (Upper Peninsula, MI)
As part of this program, health centers are coached by a NACHC expert and have access to a wide array of subject matter experts (SMEs) from organizations that include Alliance Chicago, Connect Humanity, Howard University’s 1867 Health Innovations Project, IDEO.org, NACHC, National Center for Farmworker Health, NIH’s All of Us, Skyscape, and the Wisconsin Literacy Center.
Health centers, coaches and several SMEs gathered in San Diego in late August to train for the program finale – a live pitch session at NACHC’s InnovationEx event in Las Vegas on October 23, where they could win an additional $25,000 to continue their innovation work.
CCHI looks forward to sharing stories and learnings from our first Incubator cohort in early 2024!
NACHC is grateful to Abbott for their partnership and support of our health center innovators.
This post is part of NACHC’s Innovation Blog Series. This series is hosted monthly by our Center for Community Health Innovation.