Preparing for the Future: How Pennsylvania Centers for Independent Living Are Designing a Statewide Community Care Hub

Three Pennsylvania CILs came together to explore the possibility of a CIL-coordinated CCH. Over the course of an eleven-month project period, Collaborative Consulting worked with a core team of CIL executives but also gathered input from leaders across the PA CIL network.

• Combined primary and secondary research to build a comprehensive understanding of Pennsylvania’s CIL network and the external forces shaping the future of a CIL-coordinated CCH.
• Translated research into three plausible future scenarios for a CIL-coordinated CCH, turning uncertainties into tangible possibilities the client team could explore and evaluate.
• Utilized three scenarios to help the team anticipate and respond to change by identifying indicators to monitor potential risks and opportunities, as well as strategic responses under various future conditions.

The CILs saw potential in a statewide CCH but faced important questions about how such a model could work, what capabilities it would require, and whether the external environment would support its development and long-term sustainability. As such, the project had four goals:

• Identify CIL capabilities, needs, and barriers related to healthcare partnerships and participation in a coordinated network.
• Define the functions, services, governance, and operating structures that a CIL-coordinated CCH would assume.
• Examine external trends shaping opportunities for CILs, including demographic, healthcare, workforce, behavioral health, community health worker, economic, and technology trends.
• Develop potential CIL CCH models using research, stakeholder input, and scenario planning.

Collaborative Consulting used a participatory approach that combined research, stakeholder engagement, model development, and facilitated decision-making. Each phase built toward the central goal: helping Pennsylvania’s CIL leaders prepare for multiple possible futures.

• We surveyed CILs across Pennsylvania and interviewed healthcare systems, health plan leaders, state-level stakeholders, and leaders of established CCHs. This helped us understand the CIL network’s current capabilities and constraints, the requirements for successful healthcare partnerships, and the lessons applicable to a PA CIL-coordinated CCH.
• We conducted market research covering healthcare and behavioral health, demographic shifts, workforce capacity, community health workers, technology, and revenue opportunities. We used these findings to identify the forces most likely to influence the future of Pennsylvania’s CILs and the feasibility of a statewide CCH.
• We synthesized research and stakeholder perspectives into three scenarios exploring potential futures for the CIL network. The scenarios offered a way to examine how changing external conditions could affect opportunities, challenges, and the viability of different approaches to collaboration and healthcare integration.
• Through facilitated scenario-planning sessions, we helped the CIL leadership team consider the implications of each future. Discussions focused on what might make each scenario more or less likely, what indicators the network should watch for, which opportunities and risks could emerge, and how the CILs might adapt their strategies as conditions changed.
• We developed CCH model concepts informed by the research, stakeholder input, and scenario discussions. These concepts helped the CILs examine potential governance and operating structures, partnership approaches, and revenue strategies.