Neighborhood Health Can Improve with Micro-Mapping

Date: 10/03/24

Learn how Health Net's localized strategies lead to better health

For more than 45 years Health Net has provided healthcare needs for communities throughout California. During that time the company launched new ways to bring low-cost quality healthcare to the neighborhoods it serves. It also thrived on helping its diverse members get the best healthcare available to them.

Now, Health Net is on the forefront of health equity advancement. The company believes that access to quality care is a major need for all who live in California – a goal it continues to work toward to help reduce care gaps and improve health outcomes for all.

To that end, Health Net has posted an issue brief that features the use of "place-based" strategies. These techniques target health disparities and promote health equity in certain communities.

Health Net calls this micro-mapping.

This approach is detailed in the brief titled, Micro-Mapping: A Focused Approach for Better Neighborhood Health (PDF). The report explores how micro-mapping can help create better care results for people with chronic conditions and other health issues that vary from one place to another.

Also featured is an in-depth study of how Health Net strives to help close the gaps that exist in preventive care. And how Health Net aims to close the gaps in care outcomes that can differ in each neighborhood. The brief then reveals how the company plans to tackle factors that appear to drive those gaps.

The report also explains how Health Net teams with community members to plan and apply place-based care solutions. This helps to build trust and use local resources that include:

• Neighborhood funding
• Joint ventures with:
  • Healthcare providers
  • Community-based organizations
  • Social service agencies
  • Schools and more
• Action items
• How to build awareness
• Multi-tiered member outreach and support

The brief includes how these place-based methods can help to improve health outcomes of the underserved. And help to foster change within communities that can be sustained and increased over time. Changes that define many ways to improve quality of life through:

• Safe neighborhood walkways
• Reduced pollution
• Better access to public transportation
• Hazard-free housing
• Access to healthy food options such as:
  • Neighborhood gardens
  • Farmers' markets
  • Joint ventures with local grocery stores and more

It is through these efforts and more that Health Net aims to ensure all who live in California – no matter their background or where they live – have the chance to lead a healthy life.

Read the entire brief (PDF) for a complete breakdown of how Health Net's micro-mapping approach has helped to impact the overall health of underserved neighborhoods.