Introducing California Policymakers to Outcomes Contracting

The Blue Shield of California Foundation tasked Social Finance and the Center for Health Care Strategies, a national nonprofit dedicated to promoting innovations in health care delivery, with hosting a series of two-hour workshops for policymakers in California. The workshops were part of a larger research and training effort focused on the value of prevention driving better health outcomes for people and communities.

Goals

• Share initial insights into outcomes-based contracting for health care services.
• Convene policymakers to gauge the viability of outcomes-based contracting within the public sector.

The Work

• Workshop development and execution: Designed and hosted workshops, in collaboration with the Center for Health Care Strategies, where 85 officials from a variety of agencies, including the California Department of Social Services, the California Department of Public Health, and the California Growth Council, engaged with and discussed the emerging practice of outcomes-based contracting.
• Post-workshop support: Connected with and supported workshop attendees interested in implementing outcomes-based contracting. Engagements included organizing legal review meetings for staff from the California Department of Housing and Community Development looking to apply the practice to their existing permanent supportive housing efforts; ideating on outcomes metrics and evaluation approaches with staff from Housing for Healthy California; and supporting members of the California Office of Early Abuse Prevention planning to incorporate outcomes-based funding into forthcoming grants.

The Results

Attendees left the workshops with twice as much knowledge about outcomes-based funding than they had prior, according to survey responses. The survey data also showed that one-third of attendees committed to “definitely” looking into outcomes-based funding approaches at their respective agencies.