AHE Roadmap Implementation Center

Welcome to AHE’s Roadmap Implementation Center (RIC), a comprehensive platform providing access to our extensive curriculum for advancing health and healthcare equity. This guide is tailored to support both existing AHE Learning Collaborative members and new users as they utilize these essential tools and resources to drive impactful change within the healthcare system. The AHE Roadmap to Advance Health Equity is a comprehensive set of strategic components; the RIC provides the practical materials and instructions you’ll need to put the Roadmap into action. Before utilizing the RIC, we suggest first familiarizing yourself with the Roadmap.

The AHE Roadmap and RIC focus on multi-stakeholder teams and multi-organization teamwork. However, single organizations or systems can also benefit from these resources. The RIC offers a structured and guided approach to help you work to reduce and eliminate health and healthcare inequities via care and payment transformations.

We are excited for you to delve into this resource and to partner with you in advancing equitable healthcare solutions. Below, find some common questions and answers related to using the RIC as well as links to specific Roadmap Implementation Center resources.

Where should I start and how should I work through the RIC?

Both the Roadmap components and the RIC are scaffolded. Each component builds upon previous components, expanding upon and reinforcing foundational principles. Note that the Roadmap’s three core components, the Essential Elements, inform all other Roadmap components and are critical for success. Completing each component thoughtfully and thoroughly is essential for maximizing the chances that you will successfully reduce and eliminate  health and healthcare inequities.

The Foundational Activities component is designed to help single and multi-organizational teams set clear goals, define roles, and foster effective collaboration. Once your team has completed the Foundational Activities, you will be ready to begin the Create Cultures of Equity component. The concepts and theories introduced in Cerate Cultures of Equity are present throughout the entire Roadmap. Understanding how they work and how to apply them is critical for successful health equity interventions.

Next, teams should study and begin utilizing the Essential Elements. These elements—partnering with patients and community-based organizations, obtaining and maintaining stakeholder buy-in, and anticipating data challenges—represent important activities critical to the success for each component of the Roadmap. After instituting these first three components, participants will be fully prepared to dive into the granular details of their goals and objectives to advance health equity. 

Identifying a Health Equity Focus is the most appropriate next step after starting the first three components, if your team has not already identified one or more inequities to address. From there, teams should continue working through the AHE Roadmap Components from top to bottom as represented in the below graphic:

What is the best way to work through the RIC?

There is no one right way to work through the RIC. However, based on AHE’s experience and history, we strongly encourage teams to complete every component of the AHE Roadmap. While some teams may find that working in the recommended order does not fit their needs, they should avoid skipping components altogether. Rather, teams should carefully weigh the pros and cons of skipping or minimizing any component of the Roadmap.

Each intentionally designed component serves a critical purpose in the overall design of the Roadmap. If a team decides to delay completion of a component, they should develop a plan for when and how they will revisit it. For example, a team may be forced to skip Partnering with Patients and Communities when working through Diagnosing Root Causes with an Equity Lens and Prioritizing Root Causes. Skipping that Essential Element will reduce their chances of successfully reducing or eliminating the identified inequities. Or it may limit how much they are able to reduce the inequities.

In such a case, the team should always partner with patients and communities at a later date to enhance their root cause analysis, re-prioritize the root causes for intervention and then utilize these changes to update and improve their care and payment transformation model. Making a plan to return ensures the team and the people they are trying to help fully benefit from engaging with all of the Roadmap contents.

Gauging Progress and Success

Your team will establish high-level goals in its team charter as part of the AHE Roadmap’s Foundational Activities.  In addition, implementing each component of the Roadmap requires establishing a complementary set of goals that can be thought of as process goals and objectives that will help your team achieve high-level goals defined in the charter.  For example, a team might set a charter goal of eliminating rural and urban disparities in the percentage of patients with successfully controlled hypertension. They might also set goals of partnering closely with care team members and patients when completing the Root Cause Analysis with an Equity Lens component of the Roadmap.  

The Goal and Objective Setting tool linked below will help your team track their progress toward AHE Roadmap Component’s goals. We encourage you to use this tool to ensure clear goal setting and promote consistent communication, accountability, and progress within your team.

RIC Time Frame

Health equity transformation is a long-term process—there is no one-size-fits-all timeline. The estimated timelines provided throughout the Roadmap are meant as general guidance, but every organization will move at its own pace depending on its structure, capacity, priorities, and external factors. Many organizations find themselves revisiting different components of the Roadmap multiple times as they learn more, refine their approach, and adapt to emerging challenges and opportunities.

Advancing health equity requires continuous learning and adaptation. As organizations gain deeper insights into inequities, refine care transformation models, and adjust payment strategies, they often cycle back through earlier phases of the Roadmap to strengthen their efforts and further reduce inequities. This iterative process is a natural and necessary part of embedding equity into healthcare systems in a sustainable way.

Use Roadmap Timelines as a resource / link to provide guidance 

How To Keep This Work Organized

Teams should save all their work, including their team charter, in a centralized drive or folder. This way all team members can access the material whenever necessary to review, revise, and update key documents. Also, as teams evolve, future members can access material to learn about the initiative and how it operates.

Support and Technical Assistance

For more information about AHE’s TA Technical Assistance, please see the AHE Technical Assistance Guide. You can also reach us directly at: info@solvingdisparities.org.