Clinical Health Coach® Training
Developed by the Iowa Chronic Care Consortium
The Clinical Health Coach® Trainings were developed seven years ago by the Iowa Chronic Care Consortium to improve patient-centered care in primary care, hospitals and community health centers. More recently, the trainings have actively served integrated health systems and accountable care organizations. Developed and continuously refined in the clinical setting, this skills-based training targets communication competencies as a powerful catalyst to engaging and activating patients in their own health future. Key curriculum components include evidence-based motivational interviewing and health coaching, team-based care models, and population health strategies that support targeted health coaching and care management. Clinical Health Coach® training creates effective behavior change specialists and care management facilitators.
ICCC was formed as a non-profit in 2002 with the vision of reducing the burden of chronic conditions in populations through collaborations with health systems, health plans and primary care practices. Validated results from ICCC demonstrations with health systems and Medicaid beneficiaries, in Iowa and other states, affirmed the unique value of coaching as primary a component strategy of its population health approach.
CMS has recognized ICCC’s population health work as a Promising Practice. The Urban Institute cited ICCC as one of the leading population health organizations in the U.S. Al Lewis and the Disease Management Purchasing Consortium awarded ICCC a rare “Gold Standard Letter of Validation” for its recent multi-year rural Medicaid program for diabetes management and remarked “this program showed the greatest event rate reductions in diabetes ever achieved in disease management (not just in Medicaid but overall) when measured validly.”
Coaching individuals with chronic conditions to improve health behaviors, build self-care skills and inspire their accountability was a key strategy in ICCC’s population health work. That feature combined with the positive outcomes of the programs, prompted a request from several clinics to create a formal training to develop a performance oriented coach training for the healthcare professionals in a clinical setting. The Clinical Health Coach® Training which emerged has prepared 2,500+ individuals from 40+ states. Leading users include the Oschner Clinic (LA), Cleveland Clinic (OH), National Rural ACO (multi-state), Christiana Care (DE), Children’s Hospital of Dallas (TX), Aledade (multi-state), Compass PTN (multi-state), University of Iowa Healthcare Alliance (IA) and others.
Clinical Health Coach® Training can be delivered onsite, online or in customized formats based upon the special situation a of an ACO, clinic or health system. Its practical, performance oriented focus is authenticated by a culminating coaching performance assessment with a standardized patient in a clinical scenario which may earn participants a Certificate of Competency in Clinical Health Coaching. Participants in the training represent the entire healthcare team – nurses, dietitians, social workers, pharmacists, physicians, community health workers and others. This is a skills orientation for organizations to build a robust care management strategy and personal training to develop sustainable patient coaching competence.
Patient engagement, and activation, is a powerful concept in the developing world of value-based healthcare. Providers must effectively reach the 98% of healthcare that takes place outside of the clinic setting and build patient self-care skills. Clinical Health Coach® Training builds capacity for healthcare organizations to deliver both thus becoming true advocates for patient health. For more information, visit us at www.clinicalhealthcoach.com.
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