MPHI & Collaboration Technology

There are a lot of “C words” that can be invoked to describe the foundation of MPHI: collaboration, cooperation, and community – and particularly the emphasis on voluntary participation to accomplish the mission and goals of health professions, interested and allied institutions and individuals coming together to improve population health. In these last two decades possibilities have multiplied exponentially with the capacity for two more C words – “communication and cyber capability” further underscore the reasons to work together. The basic tenant of MPHI is that working together around mutual aims and demonstration projects supports concrete steps toward improvement in population health improvement outcomes “where the sum is greater than the separate parts.” MPHI fosters these collaborations through the application of shared values that draw upon technology to create the channels to communicate, a forum to create cooperation and confidence building and activities that result in complementing each members’ mission. Collaboration in communities is as old as human kind, from banding together to secure food and shelter. The rise of agriculture and urban communities attest to the strength of the instinct and development of tools and institutions that foster collaboration. But, equally true, collaboration requires building trust and confidence. With the increasing complexity of challenges, the availability of potential but often underutilized tools and best practices, MPHI can play an important role in implementing health care and public health collaborations. There are compelling reasons to work together, and

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