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Center for Total Health Welcomes Workgroup on Measuring Wellbeing in Communities

On September 8, leaders in measurement development convened at Kaiser Permanente’s Center for Total Health to launch their workgroup on Measuring Wellbeing in Communities: Advancing Implementation of National Committee on Vital and Health Statistics (NCVHS) Recommendations. Together with 100 Million Healthier Lives  ,the workgroup brought together thought leaders from academia, the government and medical community to brainstorm and develop a preliminary measure set for measuring wellbeing in the U.S.

100 Million Healthier Lives  is a global community of change makers who are transforming thought and action on improving health, wellbeing, and equity and is a partner of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement.

Soma Stout, MD, MS, executive lead of 100 Million Healthier Lives and vice president at IHI, set the stage by sharing the importance of wellbeing as a lens to understanding health. Matt Stiefel, MPA, MS, from Kaiser Permanente’s Center for Population Health and lead of the 100 Million Healthier Lives Metrics Team, discussed why a common measurement of wellbeing was needed. Robert Phillips, co-chair of the Population Health Subcommittee at NCVHS, and Carley Riley, MD, MPP, MHS, of Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, highlighted results from preliminary studies on measurement of overall wellbeing.

The duration of the meeting focused on identifying ways to build on the current NCVHS framework for measurement of wellbeing, with attendees working together in breakout sessions to identify a process by which these measures could be reviewed, finalized and connected with a second workgroup focusing on implementation of wellbeing metrics.

When asked why it was important to have this workgroup launch with the specific thought leaders in attendance, Dr. Stout explained, “If our country is going to have far better health and life outcomes, we need to change what we measure to focus much more broadly on what creates wellbeing – mental, physical, social and inspirational wellbeing.”

Dr. Stout further elaborated, “As we help people think differently and ground themselves around the concept of wellbeing, we felt it was crucial to invite national leaders from groups all across the country that are beginning to work on this and are providing both federal and nonfederal leadership to come together, create a common vision of what it could look like to measure wellbeing and begin to propose measures and move them into implementation in a way that we can learn what actually creates wellbeing.”

For more information on 100 Million Healthier Lives’ upcoming events, including their Fall Gathering, please click here.

The Kaiser Permanente Center for Total Health hosts internal and external educational events. All events – including annual banquets, quarterly meetings, trainings, interviews – can be customized to incorporate the interactive exhibits that make the Center for Total health experience both fun and informative for attendees. If your organization is interested in hosting an event, please send us an event request via our website. We look forward to hearing from you!

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