The California Accountable Communities for Health Initiative (CACHI) was established to lead efforts to modernize our health system and build a healthier California. We aim to transform the health of entire communities, not just individual patients. By bringing together our most valuable community institutions – hospitals, public health, schools, public safety agencies, parks, and local businesses – along with local residents, we can create a new vision for our health system. Our vision is for a health system that is capable of fundamentally changing health outcomes by aligning interventions for maximum impact, promoting prevention, and organizing resources to focus on the most effective strategies. Through this effort, we can move closer to making health equity among all community members a reality in California.

To realize this vision, CACHI is utilizing a new model known as the Accountable Communities for Health (ACH). This model requires us to confront outdated, conventional wisdom that doctors and hospitals alone can improve community health outcomes. We cannot continue to place most of the responsibility on clinicians to keep us well. Building healthy communities is possible when different sectors work toward a common cause —a symphony for a healthier California. However, these sectors, and the various services and programs they provide, often work in isolation of one another—operating as solo musicians, who play their own songs. The ACH seeks to transform these solo players into a highly functioning orchestra.