Strategies

What Works for Health includes evidence-informed strategies to create communities where everyone can thrive.

250 Strategies
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Paid family leave

Provide employees with paid time off for circumstances such as a recent birth or adoption, a parent or spouse with a serious medical condition, or a sick child
Evidence Rating:
Scientifically Supported

Community Conditions

  • Income, employment and wealth

Societal Rules

  • Institutional practices
  • Laws and policies

Patient financial incentives for preventive care

Use gift cards, vouchers, and other incentives to encourage patients to undergo preventive care such as screenings, vaccinations, etc.
Evidence Rating:
Scientifically Supported

Community Conditions

  • Clinical care

Patient navigators

Provide culturally sensitive assistance and care coordination, and guide patients through available medical, insurance, and social support; also called systems navigators
Evidence Rating:
Scientifically Supported

Community Conditions

  • Clinical care

Societal Rules

  • Institutional practices

Patient safety checklists

Use visual tools to prompt safe practices, standardize communication, and ensure no step is forgotten before, during, or after a medical procedure or other health care situation
Evidence Rating:
Scientifically Supported

Community Conditions

  • Clinical care

Patient shared decision making

Support joint decision making between health care practitioners and patients through shared decision making (SDM); part of patient-centered care
Evidence Rating:
Scientifically Supported

Community Conditions

  • Clinical care

Societal Rules

  • Institutional practices
  • Worldviews, culture and norms

Permeable pavement projects

Use pervious concrete, porous asphalt, permeable interlocking pavers, open-jointed blocks or cells, or other permeable pavement in individual or commercial development efforts; also called porous or pervious pavement
Evidence Rating:
Scientifically Supported

Community Conditions

  • Air, water and land

PFAS regulations

Establish regulations for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) manufactured chemicals, that address production, use, and environmental contamination
Evidence Rating:
Expert Opinion

Community Conditions

  • Air, water and land

Societal Rules

  • Laws and policies

Physically active classrooms

Incorporate classroom-based physical activities, such as classroom energizers, into academic lessons or as a break, usually for elementary students
Evidence Rating:
Scientifically Supported

Community Conditions

  • Diet and exercise

Places for physical activity

Modify local environments to support physical activity, increase access to new or existing facilities for physical activity, or build new facilities
Evidence Rating:
Scientifically Supported

Community Conditions

  • Diet and exercise
  • Civic and community resources
  • Climate

Point-of-decision prompts for physical activity

Place motivational signs on or near stairwells, elevators, and escalators that encourage individuals to use stairs
Evidence Rating:
Scientifically Supported

Community Conditions

  • Diet and exercise