Implement Connect for Health at your Organization
Our step-by-step implementation guide maps the way—complete with downloadable materials for you to use and customize.
Let's get started!
Connect for Health was designed to be up-and-running quickly, making the most of the tools and people you already have in-place.
Use this step-by-step guide to walk through the process of implementing your own program. Although these steps are arranged in linear fashion, there will be overlapping and ongoing activities.
Activity 1
Identify decision-makers/stakeholders
Engage your organization's decision-makers (e.g. CMO, Division Chief, Unit Leader) and stakeholders (e.g. primary care MDs, NPs, DOs, MAs, etc.), not forgetting to include the families in your practice. Start conversations that include discussion on quality improvement, needs assessment and preferences, barriers for adoption, etc. Create a presentation that outlines why addressing childhood obesity is becoming more urgent. Summarize the benefits of the Connect for Health program.
Download the presentations we used to inspire our stakeholders!
Pediatric Leadership Meeting
EHR and IT Meeting
Family Advisory Board Community Feedback
Activity 2
Begin the conversations
With internal stakeholders:
See how you can align Connect for Health protocols with current workflows; Talk to clinicians and administrators to assess the organizational climate: What are the competing demands for leadership attention and resources? How will the culture support these efforts? Assess your team's readiness.
With patient families and community leaders:
Talk about perceptions around weight management programs; understand the family's need for materials and resources; discover their preferences for delivery of those resources; explore and pursue opportunities for telehealth and text messaging programs, helping to overcome community and family barriers.
Download everything needed to communicate with your stakeholders!
Activity 3
Assemble your team
Identify a clinician champion(s), a leadership partner/sponsor, a practice coach and an EHR analyst and project manager (to help install and support Connect for Health elements.) Identifying supportive leaders within the administration can also be helpful as you move into implementation.
Download a series of presentations to train your team:
C4H Practice Coach & Clinician Champion Training Part 1
C4H Practice Coach & Clinician Champion Training Part 2
C4H Practice Coach & Clinician Champion Training Part 3
Clinician Champion
Champion(s) help facilitate change efforts by building organizational support and providing performance feedback.
Can be a pediatrician, nurse practitioner, PA, or other respected clinician within your organization.
Leadership Sponsor/Partner
Senior-level manager who can garner support and resources for your initiative.
Someone who understands how the program fits into the organization’s overall objectives and goals.
Practice Coach
An experienced team-builder and motivator who can provide both technical assistance and moral support/encouragement to clinicians as the program is being adopted.
An on-the-ground “point person” serving the entire practice with day-to-day questions and issues.
Technical Support Team
May include an EHR analyst/specialist to help set up the new screens and prompts, a program manager to coordinate the update, and other support staff your specific site may require for IT support and implementation.
Activity 4
Selecting patients to engage with
Each site will have their own criteria for determining which patients to approach with the program. Some sample criteria from the Connect for Health studies have included:
Identify children ages 2-12 years with elevated BMI during primary care visits
Flag patients through the EHR based on height & weight as measured over the past 3 months
Guide primary care management of these children
Use EHR for decision-support tools: diagnosis codes, lab orders, referrals, and family educational materials
See additional telehealth adaptations with added functionality
Activity 5
Adapt and prepare family materials
This site contains all the templates, tools, and resources needed to fully implement the Connect for Health program.
Family materials include a comprehensive set of printable patient educational handouts focusing on recommended behavioral changes. The materials include an overview handout with the six behavioral messages and additional handouts focusing in-depth on individual messages including: healthy drink choices, screen-time, physical activity, following a balanced nutrition plans, sleep and social-emotional wellness.
The tools also include an extensive library of social and community-informed text messages to support behavior change. Clinicians and staff will enroll parents to receive the unidirectional, automated messages generally twice a week for 1 year.
Individualized community resource guide templates include sections on nutrition and food resources, physical activity and after-school programs, housing and utilities, and social services and healthcare. Customizing this guide for your service area and translating these materials will help maximize their value and impact.
Of course, you may choose to adapt or further personalize these materials.
Download a full package of proven family materials:
English, Spanish, Haitian Creole
To browse individual resources, please visit our Resource Library.
Activity 6
Build out clinician tools
The Connect for Health program uses a notification approach that activates within an EHR to identify children with an elevated BMI at the time of a well-child visit.
After a child’s height and weight are taken and entered in the EHR, a non-interruptive indicator (e.g. a Best Practice Alert in Epic EHRs) appears to alert the clinician to the elevated BMI.
Leveraging your EHR:
We designed a notification system and clinical decision support tools that prompts clinicians to:
Document a diagnosis of overweight or obesity
Discuss and document counseling on nutrition and physical activity
Order laboratory evaluations as appropriate
Make referrals to nutrition, weight management programs and other relevant services
Place an order for the text-messaging program
Provide educational materials and schedule a follow-up visit
The healthcare organizations in our clinical trial and implementation study all used Epic EHRs, but the program can be implemented on any platform, with a minimum of coding/customization.
For other practices using an Epic EHR, Connect for Health offers free tools (Best Practice Alert and Smart Set) along with technical specifications that will help you integrate the program.
Download EHR specifications (for non-Epic users)
Link to Epic Community Library for Connect for Health Epic Tools
+Site-to-Site Comparison
Adaptable workflow/process strategies to fit your needs...
The Connect for Health program is easily adapted to suit the needs of your organization. Check out some sample process maps that demonstrate in-person and telehealth workflows from some of the organizations that participated in our implementation study:
Activity 7
Clinician Training (Before and/or after launch)
Conduct trainings that focus on the need for the program, the evidence strength of the program, intervention components and how/when they are best implemented. Include modules around best practices for screening and management of childhood obesity. It is recommended to conduct two training sessions prior to launch, and then quarterly refreshers thereafter.
Download Pre-launch training presentation
Activity 8
Provide Local Technical Assistance/Consultation
As you are setting up the program and modifying the EHR/workflows, establish an easy way for clinicians to access technical assistance in-person, over the phone, and by e-mail.
Activity 9
Optimize Clinician Incentives and Allowances
Align Connect for Health with your internal performance metrics to encourage adoption and outcomes tracking. Providing quality improvement bonuses, as appropriate, can help drive support and enthusiasm for the program.
Activity 10
Go live with your Connect for Health program
Turn on the EHR tools and begin distributing patient/family information. Engage families through telehealth appointments and maintain engagement/reinforce behavior through Connect for Health's text messaging library.
Activity 11
Encourage Clinicians to join the Virtual Learning Community
Virtual learning communities have been widely used to increase knowledge and support practice change. Ongoing education and consultation are critical to provider adoption of clinical innovations and have been shown to be even more important than standalone training.
Provide education on the program and childhood obesity topics, led by experts. Offer continuing educational units (CEUs) to help encourage participation. These once monthly activities can begin mid-way through the implementation period and last from six to nine months.
Activity 12
Provide Facilitation and Adoption Support
Make sure clinicians have someone they can reach out to for support at any point as needed. Ask your team to be prepared to provide troubleshooting, educational support and encouragement as clinicians begin to adopt the program.
Activity 13
Audit Progress and Provide Feedback
Collect individual and practice-level metrics on utilization of the clinical support tools. Deliver feedback to clinicians and practices on a quarterly basis.