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February 2017
Policy&Practice
9
Yes, the Value Curve has officially gone viral.
Since 2010 when this model was
introduced by Harvard, at least two
dozen cities and counties and six states
are explicitly using the Health and
Human Services (HHS) Value Curve to
guide their strategic planning, practice
model development, system-wide
assessment and improvement plans,
partnership development, strategic
communications, staff development, or
performance management activities.
These ongoing efforts are serving to
convert tensions between programs,
entities, and systems into a shared
framework and language for field-wide
innovation and transformation. In the
United States, it’s rare to see a nation-
ally adopted framework, let alone one
with sustained interest being generated
at all system levels (local-state-federal),
organizational tiers (executives-man-
agers-supervisors-front-line workers),
and with a broad set of active partners,
including public safety, higher educa-
tion, business, private and nonprofit
providers, other national associations,
health care, and public health.
The American Public Human
Services Association (APHSA) has
been at the forefront of translating the
Value Curve into a set of descriptions,
examples, progress drivers, observable
markers, related guidance and tools,
and hands-on technical support. This
is my third annual feature on the Value
Curve—from decoding it, to traveling
with it, to witnessing its viral spread
and scale.
Illustration by Chris Campbell