Population Health
The Population Health pillar of Blue Sky Institute recognizes the complicated, multifaceted nature of the health of our community and the need to bring together siloed experts and stakeholders to enact change. Blue Sky has since expanded its area of focus and incorporated health innovation as part of its population health pillar.
Health Innovation
The Health Innovation component of Population Health focuses on innovative models–bringing cross-disciplinary stakeholders together to redesign how healthcare is delivered and increase population health in the Treasure Valley and globally.
A Vertically Integrated Project called “Humanitarian Engineering and Social Entrepreneurship” is set to begin Fall 2019 for a cross-disciplinary approach to tackling the global health problems of cooking with wood indoors. This Vertically Integrated Project is a collaboration between COHS, COBE, and COEN facilitated by Blue Sky Institute. Recruitment of students is occurring in all three colleges as well as in Global Studies, Environmental Studies, Honors College, and Anthropology.
Blue Sky, through Health Innovation Fellow Mark Lung, has been exploring value-based payment models in Idaho health care. We are seeking to accumulate health outcome, cost-effectiveness, and return on investment data associated with Community Health Workers. These efforts are coordinated through 2 local health care delivery system groups: (1) Saint Alphonsus Community Health Worker Alliance’s Payment and Outcomes Subgroup and (2) Blue Cross of Idaho Foundation’s Financial Redesign and Rural Health Initiative.
Health Innovation is also expanding into telemedicine in Kenya. Kodi Romero, program manager, won first place for her telemedicine business model in the 2019 Idaho Entrepreneur Challenge in the Social and Environmental Impact Track. The business model was awarded $12,500 in seed money to begin a telemedicine pilot for rural Kenyans.
Other Projects
Other projects of Population Health have been archived until next steps are established. Visit our Population Health archive.