What people are saying about the Center 

Community Catalyst’s Center for Consumer Engagement was a tremendous resource and advocate for Cinnaire as we established the Healthy Neighborhoods Fund in Wilmington, Delaware. The goal of the Fund is to address the social determinants of health by providing capital for the acquisition and renovation of vacant and blighted homes to stabilize distressed neighborhoods, reduce crime and poverty, and improve the health of residents.

The Center was instrumental throughout the process of making the Fund a reality. The team analyzed and identified best practices to address the social determinants of health and facilitated key relationships for us with health care systems. They also helped shape our message to speak in a common and compelling language to meet the specific needs of health entities. The Center’s expert consultation, along with the collaboration with the Housing Partnership Network, made the Fund a reality by helping us raise the first funds from Trinity Health/St. Francis Hospital, providing the momentum for us to leverage funding from other contributors and lenders.

Susan FrankExecutive Vice President, Business Development, Cinnaire

It has been such a pleasure getting the opportunity to work with Community Catalyst. Their knowledge and experience in consumer engagement has been extremely valuable in supporting the Transformation Center in convening Oregon’s Community Advisory Councils over the past two years. All of the staff at Community Catalyst have been amazing to work with and implementing our annual event with their assistance was educational for all.

Adrienne MullockTransformation Analyst, Oregon Health Authority

Community Catalyst served as a fantastic guide in building a foundation, an identity, and membership for Community Care Cooperative’s (C3) Patient Family Advisory Council (PFAC). Our PFAC members already possessed the fervor to serve as champions for their communities and Community Catalyst helped solidify their roles, expectations, and priorities in order to improve the overall member experience. They truly helped us not only recruit our engaged members, but also reinforce the need for a cohesive and dedicated group, which will always remain a priceless asset for the future of our PFAC.

Julita Mir, MDChief Medical Officer, Community Care Cooperative

We worked with Community Catalyst to evaluate our Geriatrics Consult Clinic and how it engaged the older adults we serve, their families and caregivers, and the primary care providers who referred patients.  They did an extensive review of our clinic's materials, processes and interviews with patients, their caregivers and primary care doctors who used or who had the option of using our service.  Their work and the subsequent report has been invaluable.  They obtained, analyzed, and organized crucial feedback and suggestions for improvement.  We have already modified our clinic visits to be more patient-centric and manageable for caregivers, and have designed an outreach strategy for primary care providers to improve our referrals.  We received insights we never would have gotten without their insightful approach and synthesis and it has truly made a difference in how we care for patients.

Anna Chodos, MDUCSF School of Medicine, Co-Principal Investigator of the Geriatric Workforce Enhancement Program

Community Catalyst gave us a lens through which to examine and think about the engagement of older adults in our program. They examined our more traditional approach to engaging patients and family caregivers and provided us with options to consider for doing this work differently; we needed that.  We benefitted from their expertise and appreciated the time they took to help us process their findings and recommendations.

Dawn ButlerProject Manager, Indiana Geriatrics Education and Training Center IU Geriatrics, Indiana University School of Medicine

The Housing Partnership Network works with our members – top-performing, high-capacity nonprofit housing developers nationwide – to promote better health outcomes for residents and families by creating partnerships that integrate and connect housing and health care. The Center’s consultants are providing their expertise and assistance on a range of topics: the expansion of a Community Health Worker program; the modification of a data sharing partnership to enable members to better measure their impact; the implementation of a portfolio-wide resident services program; and a loan fund to support a citywide revitalization and community services initiative.

HPN has been impressed by the extent of the Center’s connections and local knowledge at member sites across the country. The staff is professional, thorough and have been critical in providing information that helps HPN and our members better understand the current health policy landscape and its implications on our work.

Rebecca ReganEVP & President, Capital Markets, Housing Partnership Network

Jewish Healthcare Foundation looks to Community Catalyst's Center for Consumer Engagement in Health Innovation to provide us with insights on successful enrollment, education and outreach campaigns and strategies that have gained through their work around the country.  Their insights into best practice and lessons learned have helped to accelerate the work we are spearheading on behalf of our region. Their staff is extremely knowledgeable, accessible and helps our team to understand and adapt the experience of other markets to benefit our own.

Nancy ZiontsCOO and Chief Program Officer, Jewish Healthcare Foundation

Engaging consumers and families was always a priority for the kind of innovation we pursued for Medicare-Medicaid beneficiaries. But creating the requirements for engagement was only the first step. Because of Community Catalyst’s decades-long work with consumers and their advocates, the Center offered unique expertise that helped health plans and providers create meaningful, effective relationships with their members. This work is essential if we are going to deliver on the promise of better care at lower cost.

Melanie BellaFormer Director, Medicare-Medicaid Coordination Office, CMS

The Hispanic Alliance is committed to health equity and justice.  Community Catalyst’s policy analysis and report describing how community benefit can be used to achieve health equity exceeded our expectations.   They have provided the Alliance with a rationale and framework for strengthening community engagement that better prepares us in making our case to area hospitals and state policymakers.

Alejandro Melendez-CooperPresident, Hispanic Alliance of Southeastern Connecticut

The key to successful integrated care – especially for older adults and people with disabilities – is active, meaningful consumer engagement, since consumers and their caregivers are at the heart of everything we do.

Dr. Robert J. MasterFormer CEO, Commonwealth Care Alliance

The Connecticut Consumer Advisory Board (CAB) was created to ensure that the consumer voice is heard in state health care innovation efforts.  Community Catalyst worked with us to find new ways to coordinate the work of 50 Consumer Representatives to the Connecticut State Innovation Model Grant and to strengthen our continuous feedback loop with communities.

Community Catalyst's national expertise, experience and their responsiveness to our unique history provided energizing ideas and recommendations. We have already begun to use these strategies in CAB's Consumer Engagement Plan to further increase our impact.

Arlene Murphy & Pat CheckoCo-Chairs, Connecticut Consumer Advisory Board