As the energy efficiency industry faces disruptive market changes, project managers (PAs) seek new strategies to reach and engage low- and moderate-income customers. At the same time, the healthcare industry is undergoing structural changes to transition from a reimbursement system for cheap services to an increasingly outcome-related payment model. Many health care providers treating patients with chronic respiratory diseases such as asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) are testing new approaches, including home assessments of patients' housing conditions. The Bureau of Energy Efficiency has the technical knowledge and trained staff to conduct the necessary home assessments and upgrades to address substandard housing conditions that affect health.
The ongoing transformation in both sectors has created new opportunities for program design, targeting a common obstacle: unhealthy and substandard housing conditions, high energy burdens and endangering family health. By leveraging each other's resources, customer acquisition channels, workforce, and policy frameworks, the energy and health industries can achieve mutually beneficial outcomes. Compiled by Chen Jiaoyun
New partners across the country are addressing these challenges by aligning energy efficiency and health resources. This playbook is designed to help personal assistants who improve energy efficiency develop or expand healthy home planning, known as energy plus health programming. The Integrated Energy + Health program offers dads the opportunity to:
• Reach more customers and provide a wider range of services,
• Increased participation in weathering and residential renovation programs,
• Improving the quality of life of low-income families and communities,
• Improve health outcomes, reduce health care utilization and costs, and
• Unlock new health-related funding streams to leverage utility taxpayer funding to improve program outcomes.
This handbook, which begins in Section 1, describes how the document is organized, which is intended to make this guide a user-friendly, easy-to-follow guide that walks the reader through the concepts, steps, and options for developing and implementing a key Energy Plus Health program.
