Better Together: IHN-CCO Takes Regional Approach To Tackling Health Challenges February 20, 2025 When it comes to meeting the biggest health needs in Benton, Lincoln and Linn counties, InterCommunity Health Network (IHN-CCO) has an extensive network of on-the-ground partners willing to share their expertise. Those relationships, formed over the last decade-plus, were essential as IHN-CCO began the process of updating its Community Health Assessment (CHA) and Community Health Improvement Plan (CHIP) in 2020. Every coordinated care organization (CCO), county and hospital across the state completes their own assessment and improvement plan. The Oregon Health Authority requires they be updated at least every five years. This time around, IHN-CCO decided to take a unique and collaborative approach, joining with county and tribal leaders to form the Partnership for Community Health. Together, they adopted a regional CHA in 2022 and regional CHIP earlier this year, providing a unified vision and playbook for all partners to address their communities’ health challenges. “This partnership is really grassroots and bottom-up,” said Todd Jeter, behavioral health director for IHN-CCO. “I just can’t say enough about how meaningful it is for us.” Partnership for Community Health The Partnership for Community Health includes: Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians. County health departments (Linn, Benton and Lincoln). IHN-CCO. IHN-CCO Community Advisory Council. Linn Benton Lincoln Health Equity Alliance. Samaritan Health Services. United Way of Linn, Benton & Lincoln Counties. “We made great strides to make sure this effort was grounded in equity, elevated community members’ voices and cultivated meaningful engagement,” Jeter said. For example, Jeter said that Ruby Moon, Community Health Director for the Siletz Tribes, personally called and filled out surveys from every tribal elder reflecting their needs. The Linn Benton Lincoln Health Equity Alliance also provided perspectives from its coalition of Black, Indigenous and People of Color community members. “We organized under a collective impact framework, driving and leveraging our collective resources and contributing to those interdisciplinary and cross-entity relationships that we know are a foundation to the systemic change that we’re really working towards,” Jeter said. By working together, the Partnership was also able to minimize “engagement fatigue.” “We know that we work better together,” Jeter said. “We also know that for our community members, it can get very tiring continuously giving answers to all of these different partners asking how we can do better … You really just lose confidence that your feedback is going to produce any results.” Health Assessment The Regional CHA was published in 2022 and runs through 2026. It highlights seven key health themes, including: Access to Affordable Housing & Homelessness. Access to Quality Care. Equity, Diversity & Inclusion. Food Insecurity & Access. Healthy Youth & Families. Mental Health. Substance Use and Misuse. Each theme incorporates data outlining health needs region-wide. For example, K-12 students experiencing homelessness in Lincoln County was 3 times higher than the state average for 2019-20, according to the report. One in eight individuals across the entire region was also food insecure in 2020, higher than the state average. Based on the CHA, the regional CHIP then identifies six priority areas: Access to Health Care. Behavioral Health. Child & Youth Health. Healthy Living. Maternal Health. Social Determinants of Health & Equity. That plan is now in the implementation phase, Jeter said. “The overarching takeaway has been the importance of community voices and working together as a region,” Jeter said. “This process has been really intentional from the bottom-up, moving it closer to the local level and really building on the original intent of the CCO model.”
