VCHIP 2024-2027 STRATEGIC PLAN
Vermont Child Health Improvement Program
(VCHIP)
VCHIP | The Robert Larner, M.D. College of Medicine at The University of Vermont
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The VCHIP three-year strategic plan presents a clear, actionable path to achieving our vision, guided by our mission and grounded in the core values of equity, inclusion, professionalism, continuous improvement, accountability, and transparency. Aligned with the Larner College of Medicine’s strategic goals, this plan supports our commitment to advancing public health, improving clinical practice, and fostering collaboration.
Phase 1
We established our strategic pillars and refined our mission, vision, values, and Inclusive Excellence statement through collaboration with staff and faculty. This phase ensured alignment with the broader goals of the Larner College of Medicine and the University of Vermont, reinforcing our role in advancing the university’s mission.
Phase 2
Collaborators including VCHIP staff, faculty, community partners, and state agencies identified challenges and opportunities through surveys, interviews, and a SWOT analysis. These insights shaped our strategic priorities, ensuring responsiveness to community and partner needs.
Phase 3
We defined key focus areas and actionable steps in three core areas: fostering a collaborative and supportive team culture, improving clinical practice quality through strategic alignment, and enhancing public health policies through systems integration. These areas are supported by robust quality improvement frameworks and clear communication plans.
The cross-cutting themes of quality improvement, research and evaluation, along with dissemination and communication, ensure that our activities incorporate strong measurement frameworks and well-defined communication plans.
This strategic plan positions us to achieve our goals while reflecting our commitment to collaboration, inclusivity, and continuous improvement. We've established mechanisms to monitor and evaluate implementation, ensuring accountability and adaptability. Aligned with the broader work of the Larner College of Medicine and University of Vermont, the plan underscores our collective commitment to a healthy Vermont where all children and families thrive.
Vision, Mission, & Core Values
VCHIP
| The Robert Larner, M.D. College of Medicine at The University of Vermont
VISION, MISSION, & CORE VALUES
Our vision is a healthy Vermont where all children and their families thrive.
MISSION
Our mission is to improve health outcomes for all Vermont’s children and their families by using collaborative measurement-based efforts to advance health care delivery and public health systems.
CORE VALUES
VCHIP holds the following core values at the center of our work:
CHILDREN AND THEIR FAMILIES
We prioritize Vermont children and their families, placing them and their lived expertise at the heart of our work.
EQUITY AND INCLUSION
We prioritize equity and ensure diverse voices and lived expertise inform and improve every aspect of our work.
CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT
We embrace challenges as opportunities for shared learning and growth, and we are dedicated to ongoing learning, adaptability, and selfassessment to ensure our impact remains positive and effective.
ACTIONABLE OUTPUTS
We value measurement-based quality improvement, research, and evaluation efforts alongside disseminating actionable outcomes to drive improvements in clinical care, public health programs, and health policy.
COLLABORATIVE ENGAGEMENT
We engage clinical, community, and state partners in decision-making, ensuring diverse perspectives shape our work.
COLLABORATION AND SUPPORT
We model respectful interaction through our day-to-day activities and foster a culture of collaboration among VCHIP team members, recognizing that our collective strength lies in our ability to support one another.
ACCOUNTABILITY AND TRANSPARENCY
We hold ourselves accountable by setting clear objectives and communicating openly about our intentions, actions, and outcomes.
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
VCHIP | The Robert Larner, M.D. College of Medicine at The University of Vermont
VCHIP joins the Larner College of Medicine in valuing diversity as a driver of excellence (LCOM Values).
We are committed to amplifying diverse voices, ensuring that all perspectives are not only heard but also authentically represented in our projects.
Acknowledging the intrinsic value of lived expertise, we actively include individuals with diverse backgrounds to inform and advance equitable public health practice and policy.
Statement Inclusive Excellence
VCHIP | The Robert Larner, M.D. College of Medicine at The University of Vermont
CORE AREAS
TEAM CULTURE AND OPERATIONS
This strategic area cultivates a collaborative and supportive work environment. Activities within this area aim to optimize program operations and enhance knowledge sharing, project implementation, and sustainability.
CLINICAL PRACTICE QUALITY AND STRATEGIC ALIGNMENT
In this area, we are dedicated to improving child and family health outcomes and well-being through effective and sustainable quality improvement initiatives and other measurement-based work. This strategic priority involves identifying and prioritizing needs from the state, clinical partners, and community collaborators to ensure our initiatives are aligned and relevant. We will increase research and evaluation of our work and support national efforts by collaborating and disseminating best practices.
PUBLIC HEALTH POLICY AND CROSSSECTOR INTEGRATION
This core area seeks to improve public health policies through research, evaluation, and cross-sector integration. Our activities promote health equity and address disparities in child health by fostering strategic partnerships and alignment across public health sectors. We will advocate for equitable policies, disseminate best practices and knowledge, and meaningfully engage individuals with lived expertise.
VCHIP | The Robert Larner, M.D. College of Medicine at The University of Vermont
CROSS-CUTTING STRATEGIES
Across all three core areas, we are implementing these cross-cutting strategies.
Quality Improvement, Reseach and Evaluation
Integrate robust measurement frameworks in all initiatives to continuously assess and improve the quality and impact of efforts on children, families, workforce, and infrastructure sustainability.
Dissemination/Communication
Ensure activities include clear communication plans to disseminate findings, tools, and success stories for both internal and external audiences.
VCHIP | The Robert Larner, M.D. College of Medicine at
The University of Vermont
TEAM CULTURE AND OPERATION
The Team Culture and Operations core area is dedicated to fostering a collaborative and supportive work environment while improving program operations to enhance knowledge sharing, project implementation, and sustainability across the organization.
This core area includes three key activities, each with specific action steps and measures.
ACTIVITY 1
Strengthen project teams’ knowledge sharing efforts and quality improvement project implementation across the organization.
ACTION STEPS
● Implement optional quarterly interdisciplinary lunch and learns or project case reviews utilizing quality improvement principles to address identified shared topic areas of interest such as (health related social needs or health equity).
● Presentations by all project teams to the broader VCHIP team annually at the staff meeting or All Teams.
TEAM CULTURE AND OPERATION
ACTIVITY 2
Establish systems to normalize and operationalize cross-cutting strategies and core values.
ACTION STEPS
● Assess gaps in current VCHIP activities to support cross-cutting strategies and core values.
● Develop and refine standard operating procedures for staff recognition, meetings, rituals, and routines that reflect cross-cutting strategies and core values.
● Integrate cross-cutting strategies and core values into project planning and execution.
● Conduct learning sessions during staff meetings or through lunch and learns, focused on cross-cutting strategies, including communication, teamwork, and core values integration with a goal of building staff capacity to effectively implement strategic initiatives across all core areas during staff meetings throughout the year.
ACTIVITY 3
Identify and pursue new funding opportunities that are aligned with organizational priority areas as identified in the Clinical Practice Quality and Strategic Alignment area to enhance organizational capacity and flexibility.
ACTION STEPS
● Conduct comprehensive resources and needs assessments to identify gaps and opportunities for funding.
● Facilitate brainstorming sessions to generate innovative funding ideas and opportunities.
VCHIP | The Robert Larner, M.D. College of Medicine at The University of Vermont
CLINICAL PRACTICE QUALITY & STRATEGIC ALIGNMENT
The Clinical Practice Quality & Strategic Alignment core area is focused on improving health outcomes for children, youth, and families through sustainable quality improvement initiatives and measurement-based work. By aligning with the needs of state, clinical, and community partners, this area ensures that VCHIP’s efforts remain relevant and impactful.
This core area includes three key activities, each with specific action steps and measurable outcomes to ensure progress and strategic alignment are effectively tracked.
ACTIVITY 1
Ensure the relevance and impact of VCHIP initiatives.
ACTION STEPS
★ Identify and prioritize child, youth and family health and wellbeing needs based on existing state, university, community assessments, and project outcomes.
★ Map existing VCHIP projects to priorities and identify gaps or lack of alignment between VCHIP work and partners’ priorities, and foster ongoing conversations with state partners
CLINICAL PRACTICE QUALITY & STRATEGIC ALIGNMENT
ACTIVITY 2
Establish a comprehensive evaluation and alignment system for VCHIP projects
ACTION STEPS
● Implement a process to review VCHIP projects’ performance measures and support projects to define health-related outcome measures.
● Update grant performance measures to support evaluation of priority work progress and outcomes.
● Identify shared health-related outcome measures across the VCHIP project portfolio.
● Identify priority programmatic areas of focus for the next strategic plan.
ACTIVITY 3
Support partners locally and nationally to develop and implement child, youth, and family quality improvement efforts.
ACTION STEPS
● Disseminate quality improvement tools through an online platform.
● Develop a comprehensive dissemination plan to share progress reports and success stories with local and national collaborators to highlight VCHIP project impacts.
● Expand national partnerships and influence through collaborative projects and advocacy efforts.
VCHIP | The Robert Larner,
M.D.
College of Medicine at The University of Vermont
PUBLIC HEALTH POLICY & CROSSSECTOR INTEGRATION
The Public Health Policy and CrossSector Integration core area seeks to improve public health policies through research, evaluation, and cross-sector integration. Activities promote health equity by fostering strategic collaboration and alignment across public health sectors, advocating for equitable policies, disseminating best practices and knowledge, and meaningfully engaging individuals with lived expertise.
ACTIVITY 1
Cultivate and maintain relationships with partners and collaborators to highlight the importance of inclusion and cross-sectoral integration and alignment.
ACTION STEPS
● Establish a VCHIP advisory board comprising representatives from the state, university, and community organizations.
● Develop external communication plan, including social media to engage and inform partners of VCHIP work.
● Explore the VCHIP website's functionality as a resource hub and central information point for the program.
● Develop strategies to increase community meeting and event presence.
● Develop annual meetings with key colleges or departments outside of the Larner College of Medicine to explore partnership potentials that integrate systems approaches to public health policy and practice.
PUBLIC HEALTH POLICY & CROSSSECTOR INTEGRATION
ACTIVITY 2
Produce policy briefs and increase publication work to ensure knowledge and best practices are shared to support policy development with a system and lived expertise perspective.
ACTION STEPS
● Provide staff training workshops on best practices in policy brief writing and publication standards
● Establish a standard operating procedure (SOP) for policy and publication efforts and employ a review feedback process.
● Develop standard templates for all project teams to utilize that include the question, “What are the implications for policy or practice this work?”
● Secure funding, resources and tools needed for research and writing.
● Disseminate a targeted number of policy briefs annually that prominently feature health equity perspectives and insights from lived expertise.
● Intentionally share dissemination efforts internally across the VCHIP team, to include accepted abstracts, published briefs, submitted manuscripts, etc.
ACTIVITY 3
Provide learning opportunities for VCHIP staff and faculty about emerging child public health policy and practice to support integrated approaches to our work and promote continuous learning
ACTION STEPS
● Enhance staff and faculty expertise in emerging child public health policy and practice through continuous education and training sessions that integrate systems integration and health equity principles as well as lived expertise perspectives.
VCHIP | The Robert Larner, M.D. College of Medicine at The University of Vermont
If you have any questions or would like to engage with our strategic plan, please reach out to our Executive Director, Rachel Garfield, at rachel.garfield@med.uvm.edu, or visit our website VCHIP | College of Medicine | University of Vermont to learn more about our work.