Areas of Expertise


Altarum Institute's more than 60 years of experience in research, consulting, and health care means that we can offer a wealth of expertise in a diverse range of topics.

 

 

 

 

Behavioral Health

Altarum Institute specializes in behavioral health policy analysis, health services research and evaluation, and technical assistance in all aspects of behavioral health. We offer expert support services for all aspects of behavioral health, including prevention, treatment, and recovery. We work with national, state, and local governments to help build a system of care that focuses on recovery, promotes active involvement of consumers and their families, and integrates multiple services to best meet individual needs.

 

Community Health

Altarum Institute firmly believes community participation to be an essential ingredient for effective public health practice. The tangible and intangible characteristics of the community – its formal and informal networks and support systems; its norms and cultural nuances; and its institutions, politics, and belief systems – are all considered as we develop and implement frameworks for guiding, supporting, and evaluating the works of community and systems change. We help communities and systems assess problems, needs, and resources; design interventions and choose and adapt interventions for different cultures and communities; develop a plan for evaluation and for how to use evaluation to understand and improve the initiative; conduct social marketing to promote interest and encourage involvement; and plan for long-term financial sustainability.

 

Food Assistance and Nutrition

For more than 25 years, Altarum Institute has focused on improving food assistance and nutrition programs through policy analysis and development, evaluation research, and technical assistance. Our staff of experts combine hands-on field experience in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC) agencies with extensive experience in analyzing and supporting all aspects of WIC program operations, including WIC vendor management systems, client service delivery systems, financial management, federal reporting, and nutrition education. Altarum also works extensively with federal, state and local programs, particularly those that administer food assistance, health, social service, and nutrition education programs directed toward low-income households. 

 

Health Disparities and Intercultural Health

Differences in health care and health outcomes exist across a wide variety of social, economic and group categories, including disability, age, language, race/ethnicity, class and place. Health disparities are persistent, systematic differences in health care and outcomes arising from complex interactions among biological, social, cultural, economic, environmental, and behavioral factors.  Altarum Institute works with providers, programs, and systems to ensure they are creating improved health outcomes for greater health equity. We do this by assessing and building the capacity of providers and programs to provide culturally and linguistically appropriate care, creating new models of health promotion and education, conducting participatory strategic planning to address disparities, redesigning delivery of care and health finance models to focus on reducing disparities.

 

Health Information Technology

For more than 20 years Altarum Institute has worked with federal, state, local, and private clients to develop and promote best practices in the application of information technology to health and health care. Applying systems research principles and analytical objectivity, Altarum’s team works to increase access to health information, improve the organization and usability of health information, and develop new knowledge from health information. We work to achieve these goals by addressing all aspects of information technology – from policy and planning efforts, to system design and development, information exchange, and the management and evaluation of specific information technology and strategies.

 

HIV/AIDS

Recognizing the ongoing need for public health programs that address both the prevention and care of HIV/AIDS, Altarum Institute has worked with many federal agencies to develop, implement, and evaluate programs that serve people who have HIV/AIDS at home and abroad. At Altarum, we are working to tell a different story about HIV/AIDS, one in which effective programs reach people with messages of prevention, treatment, and hope; in which public agencies make the best use of scarce resources to reach people most at risk for contracting the disease; and in which programs overcome cultural, social, and economic barriers to providing services.

 

Lean Six Sigma

Altarum Institute is demonstrating that Lean Six Sigma (LSS) principles in health care, when applied rigorously and throughout an entire organization, have a positive impact on productivity, cost, quality, and timely delivery of services. The Altarum LSS team helps clients ensure rapid success on projects with wide buy-in by the people who do the work daily, from identification through sustainment. We teach you to use our materials and forms internally to ensure success after we leave, and we help make your staff self-sufficient as quickly as possible. We have a well-defined and effective process, resulting in Altarum certification. Our team includes recognized experts and leaders from industry, with in-depth experience in the health care applications of LSS, including Lean layout. Altarum LSS coaches have proven success, as demonstrated by the measurable improvements we have brought to our clients and multiple Shingo Prize awards for Lean efforts awarded to a number of our U.S. government clients.

 

Military and Veterans Health

Altarum Institute offers a wealth of experience in military and veterans health care. We have worked for decades to help our military clients plan, manage, and forecast health care services and beneficiary populations, and our planning and forecasting models have become the standard tools some military clients use to evaluate their health care system needs. Altarum’s talented staff of specialists have expertise in large government and military health care providers. Clients have included the Office of the Undersecretary of Defense for Health Affairs (specifically the TRICARE Management Activity); the Office of the Navy Surgeon General, Bureau of Medicine and Surgery; and the Office of U.S. Air Force Surgeon General, Air Force Medical Service.

 

Obesity and Overweight

Altarum Institute works with government, corporate, clinical, and community-based clients to address socio-ecological conditions which contribute to the emerging childhood obesity epidemic. Altarum Institute is investing $2.5 million to support our Childhood Obesity Prevention Mission Project. The Obesity Prevention Mission Project, part of the Altarum Institute Mission Projects Initiative, will be undertaken in collaboration with community, government, corporate, and clinical partners to demonstrate system-level changes to reduce childhood obesity.

 

Women, Children, and Adolescents

With proven policy analysis, technical assistance, program evaluation, and training credentials, Altarum Institute works to ensure that federal, state, and local policymakers and providers collaborate and move toward systems of care that improve health outcomes for women, children, and adolescents. Our services include analyzing health policy for state and local governments; conducting program evaluation and planning; providing technical assistance and training; conducting needs and capacity assessments; facilitating strategic planning and policy academies; planning and conducting in-person and Web-based national, regional, and statewide meetings; and gathering and analyzing maternal and child health data.