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Get a short summary of the perceptions of experts in public health and leaders in other sectors about the health, public health, and cross-sector collaboration.

Framing strategies that are proven to shift thinking and attitudes about public health in productive ways. These recommendations can be used to build support for meaningful partnerships with other sectors.

This report analyzes the assumptions and gaps in understanding that public health professionals face when engaging other sectors, detailing how leaders in other sectors think about health, public health, and the value of collaboration.

“There is mounting recognition that to truly improve health outcomes in the U.S. and curb chronic diseases there must be an interdisciplinary, coordinated, and cross-sector approach to address acute conditions and the upstream social factors that contribute to poor health outcomes.” The Public Health Leadership Forum (PHLF) and Health Care Transformation Task Force (HCTTF) developed a framework that “outlines essential elements of collaboration and presents key tactics and strategies for forming or reshaping effective partnerships.”

“The National Prevention Strategy aims to guide our nation in the most effective and achievable means for improving health and well-being. The Strategy prioritizes prevention by integrating recommendations and actions across multiple settings to improve health and save lives.”

“The National Alliance to impact the Social Determinants of Health (NASDOH) is a group of stakeholders working to systematically and pragmatically build a common understanding of the importance of addressing social needs as part of an overall approach to health improvement. [They] provide a bridge between sectoral efforts by engaging organizations across the national system of health and in particular, engaging the business sector to articulate the cross-sector value proposition for addressing the social determinants of health.”

“MAPP is a community-driven strategic planning process for improving community health. Facilitated by public health leaders, this framework helps communities apply strategic thinking to prioritize public health issues and identify resources to address them. MAPP is not an agency-focused assessment process; rather, it is an interactive process that can improve the efficiency, effectiveness, and ultimately the performance of local public health systems.”

Brian Castrucci, CEO of the de Beaumont Foundation, and John Auerbach, President and CEO of Trust for America’s Health, discuss how “hospitals and health care systems have started to address [the] social determinants of health through initiatives that buy food, offer temporary housing, or cover transportation costs for high-risk patients. If this is what addressing the social determinants of health has come to mean, not only has the definition changed, but it has changed in ways that may impede efforts to address those conditions that impact the overall health of our country.”

This study “by Megan McHugh, Ph.D. and colleagues at Northwestern University [explores] how 13 of the largest manufacturing companies in the United States approach community health investments. The study also addresses how corporations and local public health leaders can collaborate to measure the impact of investments and ensure that community health initiatives are effective and benefit the community.”

“Public managers can choose from four types of cross-sector collaboration. Here's a look into the tradeoffs of each type.”