“As the political debates over the future of American health insurance continue, the health care system is slowly shifting from a fee-for-service model to one that places more financial risk and responsibility on insurers, providers, and states,” write Jitinder Kohli and Anne De Biasi for Deloitte University Press. “Developments suggest that it is critical for the country to move from a system of sick care, in which we treat patients after they fall ill, to one of health care, in which we help people stay healthy in the first place. This goes far beyond a change in semantics or mind-set: Meeting this demand will require a fundamental shift in the way state and local governments and other community partners interact. Instead of operating in silos that create structural and cultural barriers to care, medical and community services will need to work together to coordinate care and services for the most vulnerable people in our population. In fact, we see cross-sector coordination as key to tomorrow’s health care system functioning — and we recognize the challenge for organizations unaccustomed to collaborating. In this article, we offer an approach to address a particularly challenging aspect of coordination — that of coordinating funds. Our proposed Healthy Communities Funding Hub model builds upon a series of convening sessions and reports launched by the nonprofit Trust for America’s Health (TFAH) to define policies aimed at improving community health and health equity.”

This article is included in our list of TEN NOTABLE RESOURCES FOR STATE ELECTED OFFICIALS INVOLVED IN CROSS-SECTOR COLLABORATION.