Annotation: Communities Joined In Action is a campaign to help communities ensure health care access for all (as part of the movement to achieve 100% Access / 0 Disparities, started in 1998 by the U.S. Bureau of Primary Health Care). A private, non-profit organization, Communities Joined In Action provides access to technical expertise, peer-mentors from model communities, coaches with first-hand experience, and experts who can help communities at every step in the process to improve access to care and eliminate health disparities. The campaign collects and provides access to profiles of communities that have successfully designed and implemented integrated health care access systems, with details on structure, outcomes, lessons learned and financing. Members receive technical assistance, coalition-building advice and expertise, and special services such as state-level assistance to help improve health access and outcomes and facilitate local efforts to integrate services to achieve better health for more people at less cost. The campaign posts numerous technical documents which can be downloaded free of charge from the Web site. Communities Joined In Action was created with support from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, Sisters of Mercy Health System, Ascension Health and the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston.
Keywords: Access to care, Community programs, Community role, Electronic publications, Healthy people 2010, Model programs, Technical assistance, Technical reports