Bridging the Gap: Aligning Community and State Public Health Goals with Academic Research Organizations’ Activities through Indicator Mapping

Abstract Information: Clinical and translational research program evaluators are asked to assess “efficiency, quality, and impact of the process for turning observations in the laboratory, clinic, and community into interventions that improve the health of individuals and communities.” Traditionally, evaluation in this area focused on volume-based metrics such as median time duration of institutional review board review and academic productivity metrics such as number of publications and subsequent grants. However, there is a growing recognition of the need to shift towards value-based metrics, focusing on broader downstream impacts such as increased healthcare quality or accessibility. With this shift, evaluators’ biggest challenge is to find indicators that measure human health outcomes and that address goals relevant to affected communities.
One promising approach is to align outcome measures with predetermined indicators that have been vetted and endorsed by community stakeholders. Healthy North Carolina 2030: A Path Toward Health (HNC) is the state of North Carolina’s 10-year year public health improvement plan with indicators and targets designed to guide state and local-level activities aimed at improving the health and well-being of all North Carolinians. Overall, 21 health indicators were chosen by a coalition of cross-sector stakeholders from across the state on the topics of social and economic factors, physical environment, health behaviors, clinical care, and health outcomes. In this exercise, three North Carolina Clinical and Translational Research Awards’ (CTSAs) Evaluation Teams will summarize potential and demonstrated human health impacts of clinical and translational research activities and efforts. We will align CTSA impact areas with HNC 2030 indicators and determine both areas of overlap and gaps. We will document the process and lessons learned, which will serve as a potential model for other CTSAs or Academic Research Organizations (AROs) in other states that may have similar state-wide health goals. As the process proposed involves collaboration between three different CTSAs, each organization will serve as a natural quality review process as the alignment and mapping process are designed and executed.
HNC 2030 goals are a testament to the collective voice of North Carolinians on public health priorities, representing a diversity of perspectives and experiences. Given that the HNC 2030 Improvement Plan includes indicators across several different systems, achieving the goals will require engaging partners in multiple sectors, including clinical and translational science and biomedical research institutions, to improve population health and drive health equity over the next few years. Our project aims to bring together the voice of evaluators in direct alignment with those from these varied sectors, including community-based organizations, non-profit organizations, government officials, and public health agencies. We aim to amplify and integrate these voices into the evaluation process thereby elevating the needs and priorities of NC communities.