The following is excerpted from Issue 19 of The Corporate Citizen. To learn more about how you can demonstrate the value of your corporate citizenship programs through data and metrics, consider joining us Dec. 6-8 in Pheonix, AZ for our Measurement and Evaluation course, also available online Jan. 8-Mar. 2, 2018 . 

When leading health and well-being company Humana embarked on a community involvement effort to recalibrate its corporate citizenship strategy, the company knew where its primary focus would be—improving the health of the people it serves.

“Improving people’s health isn’t just about making changes to diet or adding daily exercise,” said Dr. Roy Beveridge, Humana’s chief medical officer. “These are complex conditions; a healthier population doesn’t happen overnight. It’s necessary to take a long view. And a wide view, including safe neighborhoods, fresh air, and access to good food.”

With an awareness of the healthy people pillar of its CSR platform, Humana launched an ambitious, metrics-driven goal in 2015 to impact a wider population of people who could benefit from the company’s ability to improve the well-being of some of the nation’s most at-risk populations. Humana's Bold Goal is built on a commitment to improving the health of Humana’s communities by 20 percent by 2020 through a variety of partnerships, signature programs, and other health-related efforts in communities across the country.

“When Humana created our Bold Goal, we knew we had an opportunity, and a need really, to create a public-private partnership that truly brings together varied organizations from across the communities we serve,” said Heidi Margulis, leader of corporate affairs at Humana. “This goal to measurably improve the health of the people we serve has not only significantly impacted our CSR approach, but also has served to inspire many of our 50,000-plus associates.”

To facilitate access to the resources people need to achieve their best health, Humana relies on an Integrated Care Delivery Model, a multilevel, holistic approach that incorporates everything from data analytics to clinical engagement. To measure results, the company is using a CDC-created measurement tool to examine how many self-reported “unhealthy days” individuals have had in a given 30-day period. The instrument considers both physical and mental health and has allowed Humana to formally measure and track progress toward achieving a 20 percent improvement in health outcomes, a process that involves a 20 percent decline from an average of 11.5 reported unhealthy days a month to 9.2 unhealthy days.

“It’s important to remember that every population is made up of individual people. That’s why it makes sense that we ask individual members of these communities a version of the basic questions we ask anyone we care about: ‘How are you feeling? How have you been’?” said Jody Bilney, chief consumer officer at Humana.

In a 2016 progress report examining the first-year impact of Humana’s Bold Goal, the results showed progress toward meeting the ambitious goal.

• More than 50,000 Humana employees are on track to meet their overall health goals by the end of 2017. (Humana set its internal goal three years ahead of its external goal.)
• An initiative aimed at reducing Type 2 Diabetes in Humana’s hometown town of Louisville, Ky. has been established to offer health care resources to members who need them.
• In San Antonio, Texas, there has been a 23 percent increase in the number of community members taking valuable health assessments. Also, a partnership with a local grocery store chain in San Antonio is helping to increase engagement with local health programs while simultaneously addressing the threat posed by food insecurity in the city by providing healthy recipes and weekly coupons to community members.
• In Tampa Bay, Fla., Humana has partnered with Feeding Tampa Bay in its mission of “changing lives one meal at a time”—working together to remove barriers to hunger and make food more accessible.

By setting a long-term goal that incorporates both the existing skills and resources of the company with its existing corporate citizenship platform, Humana is now able to impact an even wider community in a measurable and meaningful manner. The company’s 2014-2015 Corporate Social Responsibility Report details how the Bold Goal and Healthy People pillar contribute to Humana’s larger CSR platform.

“Healthy people help drive a stronger, more effective health care system. The challenge is that being healthy can be hard for all of us, which is why Humana is so committed to partnering with people and communities to help them get healthy and stay healthy. Pursuing our Bold Goal is good for people’s health, and good for our business. Healthier communities mean a healthier Humana, too.” said Pattie Dale Tye, leader of the company’s Bold Goal effort.

It’s too soon to say if Humana will achieve its Bold Goal. But clearly, more organizations are working together now in many communities, in part because of this effort.

To learn more about how you can demonstrate the value of your corporate citizenship programs through data and metrics, consider joining us Dec. 6-8 in Pheonix, AZ for our Measurement and Evaluation course, also available online Jan. 8-Mar. 2, 2018 .