How to Prepare for a ReThink Health Strategy Lab

How to Prepare for a ReThink Health Strategy Lab
Description: The ReThink Health Strategy Lab is a facilitated educational forum, where diverse
stakeholders may work together to explore how to improve local health system performance.
Participants will design and test scenarios using the ReThink Health Dynamics simulation model—a
simplified, yet realistic representation of a local health system. Planners may use this interactive tool to
anticipate the likely consequences of various initiatives over time across a range of metrics including
population health, care, cost, workforce productivity, social equity, spending, savings, return-oninvestment, and more.
Preparation: The following brief exercises will help you prepare to make the most of your experience
during the Strategy Lab. They should take about 1.5 hours.
1: Read Background Papers
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Learning from Evidence in a Complex World
Summary of the ReThink Health Simulation Model
Intervention Options for Simulating Scenarios
Complete a Pre-Session Self-Assessment
2: View Introductory Videos
The following videos explain how to use the model’s online
interface. There are also several exercises to help you
develop greater comfort with the simulation tool.
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Video #1: Test an Initiative
Video #2: Interpret Results
Video #3: Compare Results from Multiple Scenarios
3: Test Your Favorite Initiatives
General Tips
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Read all definitions very carefully.
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Deliberate and decide which initiatives to
study. Consider what you value and how
to achieve it.
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Begin with single initiatives, then combine
elements to achieve better results.
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Label each scenario with a descriptive
name (“Cut Waste and Invest Upstream”).
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Think critically about each scenario.
Anticipate what will happen before
simulating.
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Learn iteratively through experiments
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(e.g., systematically add or remove
initiatives to see their contributions).
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Focus on the pattern of results; do not be
distracted by small differences.
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Contact us if you have any questions. Just
send a message to Rebecca Niles at
([email protected])
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Register as a NEW USER and login to the
ReThink Health Anytown model at
http://tinyurl.com/RTH-ATL.
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Simulate each of the five initiatives that you
prioritized in the pre-session survey above.
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Test each one individually and also combined to study
their relative effects over time
o Before simulating, sketch the expected consequences
using the Worksheet for Anticipating Consequences.
o Focus on the pattern of results by navigating through the Results tree. Discover what
happened—and why. What are the main benefits and pitfalls?
o Make sure to compare the results of your scenarios, as described in Video #3.