Change Maker Accelerator Applications

Background

Recognizing that the capacity and well-being of the U.S. health workforce have been under threat for years and that these challenges require systems-level solutions, the National Academy of Medicine (NAM) released the National Plan for Health Workforce Well-Being in October 2022. The National Plan provides a framework for strengthening health workforce well-being and calls on actors across the health care ecosystem to advance policy and systems changes that better support the health workforce and the health of all communities.

To support implementation of the National Plan’s priority areas, the NAM established the Change Maker Accelerator program. As part of this program, participating organizations work to advance the National Plan through their institutions, commit to tracking and measuring their progress, and learn alongside a community of organizations committed to strengthening health workforce well-being. Accelerators work closely with the NAM and one another as part of a community of practice to build their capacity to drive systems-level change while generating practical insights and examples that can help other organizations operationalize the National Plan and accelerate collective efforts toward well-being.

Benefits of Participation

Through the program, Accelerators have the opportunity to: 

• Build relationships and a community of practice for continuous learning, networking, collaboration, and mutual support with fellow Accelerators, Clinician Well-Being Collaborative members, the broader Change Maker community, NAM staff, and other experts and peers committed to advancing health workforce well-being. 
• Receive tailored coaching and support from experienced well-being leaders to help advance their organization’s well-being efforts.
• Increase the visibility of their organization’s well-being efforts by highlighting their work, progress, and achievements through NAM and Clinician Well-Being Collaborative activities.
• Access tools and resources to support the implementation and scaling of evidence-based approaches to improve well-being outcomes within their organization. 
• Share experiences, lessons learned, and promising approaches that can help other organizations advance health workforce well-being. 
• Help shape the work of the Clinician Well-Being Collaborative by contributing data and on-the-ground experiences from their organization’s well-being efforts.
• Contribute to the evidence base for health workforce well-being by exploring insights and data trends from across the Accelerator cohort and contributing to publications or products that can inform policy, funding, research, capacity building, and national initiatives. 

Eligibility and Participation

Organization Eligibility

To be eligible to apply, organizations must:

• Be located in North America.
• Be engaged in or planning to engage in work that promotes health worker well-being at the organizational or system level.
• Demonstrate a commitment to institutionalizing well-being as a long-term value and to advancing additional priority areas from the National Plan for Health Workforce Well-Being.

Applicant Qualifications

Applicants must:

• Hold a leadership position (e.g., director of well-being) and/or have responsibility for advancing well-being for a constituency (e.g., physicians, students, faculty, all employees, etc.).
• Have sufficient capacity and organizational support to participate regularly in Accelerator meetings and fulfill the participation expectations outlined below.
• Be positioned to represent their organization’s well-being efforts and strategic priorities, contribute insights during closed coaching meetings, and share their organization’s progress at public convenings.

Preferred Qualifications for Success

The following qualifications are highly preferred but not required: 

• The applicant and their organization have some experience planning and implementing initiatives to advance health worker well-being.  
• Health worker well-being is aligned with the organization’s mission and strategy, although it does not need to be the organization’s sole or primary focus.
• The organization has experience and/or established structures that support cross-departmental and interdisciplinary collaboration on well-being efforts. 

Participation Expectations

If selected, Accelerators are expected to:     

• Provide quarterly organization-level data on their well-being portfolios and progress using a secure dashboard platform provided by the NAM. Training and technical support will be provided by NAM staff. 
• Attend and actively participate in virtual coaching sessions and Joint Learning Sessions to the best of their abilities. [Coaching sessions are candid, small group discussions facilitated by experienced well-being leaders (held monthly). Joint Learning Sessions are opportunities for the full cohort to convene for cross-learning on successes and surface shared challenges to their well-being work (held quarterly).]
• Attend and actively participate in Collaborative-wide convenings (~2 hybrid opportunities per year). 
• Serve as liaisons between their organizations/communities and the Collaborative to facilitate multi-directional communication and learning. 
• Reflect on how they advanced their well-being portfolios during their period of participation and develop a final poster showcasing an action plan to sustain impact after the Accelerator program. Provide feedback on the Accelerator program and participate in evaluation activities to support continuous improvement and assess program impact.