December 14, 2023
The Collaborative is partnering with Envision Utah and Heart+Mind Strategies to lead a values and priorities research process to establish a vision for the future of healthcare in Utah
Salt Lake City — Today, the One Utah Health Collaborative (the Collaborative) announced a new partnership with Envision Utah to understand the core values and priorities related to healthcare that are held by healthcare professionals, employers, and patients. This project will help define focus, methods, and goals for the Collaborative’s vision of affordable healthcare that improves the quality of life for all.
With the findings from this study, the Collaborative will work alongside Envision Utah to identify guiding principles for the future of healthcare in Utah. This critical project will supplement current efforts to establish a healthcare spending growth target for the state.
The research will be conducted in two phases:
- Qualitative research: In-depth listening and research sessions (referred to as Illumination Labs) with healthcare leaders, healthcare professionals (e.g. nurses, doctors), employers, and patients from within the state. Sessions include multi-day intensive online discussion groups with diverse subsets. These sessions will aid in establishing priority elements of a vision for the future of healthcare.
- Quantitative survey: An online scientific survey among Utah residents to establish a clear hierarchy of priorities, values orientations, and other important data broken down across demographic segments within our current healthcare system.
“Our mission is bold, and Governor Cox has asked us to be bold,” said Jaime Wissler, executive director for the Collaborative. “To that end, we need a solid foundation to act on. We need to know what nurses, doctors, small business owners, patients, are all experiencing as we seek to change the trajectory of healthcare and healthcare spending in this state. Envision Utah is the ideal partner for this undertaking. For over 20 years, Envision has engaged Utahns in collaborative, bottom-up decision making. They make visions reality.”
“Our philosophy has always been that how we grow matters — and that couldn’t be more true when it comes to healthcare,” said Ari Bruening, CEO of Envision Utah. “We know that Utahns have long been worried about the direction of healthcare costs, and they want to see things move towards greater affordability while ensuring quality and access. This is about visioning, but it’s also about implementation. We are thrilled to work with Collaborative to help shape the future of healthcare for everyone.”
Illumination Labs, or the qualitative portion of the research, will begin in December with additional sessions held in January. Surveys among the broader population will take place in early 2024 and findings will be made available on the Collaborative’s website. For more information about this effort, email info@uthealthcollaborative.org.
About the One Utah Health Collaborative (the Collaborative):
In 2022, Gov. Spencer Cox launched the One Utah Health Collaborative (the Collaborative), a community-owned 501c3 nonprofit designed to improve the trajectory of health care in the state. Gov. Cox recognized reducing the growth of healthcare spending does not occur in an election cycle and set up a 15-year initiative. Since beginning operations in September 2022, the Collaborative has laid a foundation to reduce healthcare spending in Utah using a consensus-based approach with key leaders from the healthcare community. To get involved visit uthealthcollaborative.org.
