The Snohomish Health Leadership Coalition (SCHLC) was launched in 2013 as a collective impact collaborative that brought a broad cross-section of public and private leaders together to improve the health and economic vitality of our community by increasing the effectiveness and success of health-enhancing organizations. The ultimate goal of SCHLC is to improve health in order to lower business sector and individual costs for healthcare.
A new strategic plan (Exhibit A) was launched in 2018 and covers six areas:
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Activity
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Nutrition
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Mental/Emotional
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Civic Health
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Operational.
The bulk of the work is accomplished through Health Accelerators (Exhibit B). There are currently five in progress.
From 2013-2015, SCHLC was backboned by Premera, and from 2015 to 2018 the backbone organization was Providence. Scott Forslund of the Providence Institute for a Healthier Community served as the executive for the backbone. YMCA of Snohomish County serves as the fiscal sponsor and provides accounting and financial services to SCHLC and is able and willing to continue in this role through 2019.
However, in alignment with this schedule, it’s time for the backbone to rotate, and it has been proposed by members of SCHLC that the Snohomish Health District be the next backbone organization.
In reviewing documents provided by the coalition, the Health District’s legal counsel Grant Weed submitted questions for SCHLC (Exhibit C). In response, Cynthia Eichner, SCHLC interim director and program manager, provided the attached memo (Exhibit D).
At its November 20 special meeting, the Program Policy Committee discussed SCHLC’s proposal. The committee recommended a three-year commitment as the backbone agency with a review at the end of each year.
Mr. Ketchel briefed the Board on the status of this item at the January 8 Board meeting, letting the Board know that the Health District submitted additional questions to the coalition that were posed by legal counsel Grant Weed.
At the January 23 Executive Committee meeting, the committee further discussed the pros and cons of the coalition’s proposal. Ms. Eichner was available a portion of the meeting to answer some of the committee’s and Mr. Weed’s questions. The committee expressed several concerns, including:
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Taking this on amid staff layoffs
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Public agencies are less nimble than private organizations
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SCHLC is not a legal entity; how do we make an agreement with a non-legal entity?
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Funding the coalition could be considered a gift of public funds.
Concluding their discussion, the committee determined that a private entity is likely the better choice as a backbone agency due to the Health District’s structural limitations. The committee also agreed it wasn’t good timing to take on additional work amidst staff layoffs. Mr. Weed added that he sees no legal pathway without the risk of exposure.
The Executive Committee agreed to recommend to the full Board that we not move forward with talks with SCHLC regarding being its backbone agency. The committee expressed support of the coalition’s efforts but determined the Health District is not a good structural fit. They directed staff to prepare a resolution (Exhibit E) affirming their support of the coalition.