2024 Annual Report
CORE's Mission
To drive meaningful improvements in health and health equity through collaborative research, evaluation, analytics, technical assistance, and capacity building.
CORE's Vision
Engaged communities, effective programs and policies, equitable systems, and healthy people.
Welcome
Welcome to CORE’s 2024 annual report! We’re excited to share highlights from another year of collaboration and impact. And as we head into 2025, we wish to express our continued commitment to our mission of making a meaningful impact on health and health equity.
CORE had a busy year in 2024, from working on projects related to understanding the impact of major health policies in Oregon to helping our many regional partners learn how their programs and initiatives are supporting healthy birth, healthy aging, behavioral health, workforce housing, and more.
We continued using data and analytics to help our partners drive decision-making that addresses community needs; for example, informing investments that support people struggling with substance use disorders. Plus, we celebrated the opening of our new office, an exciting space to work, collaborate, and host our partners.
We were also honored with an Innovation in Philanthropy Award for our Data for Change program with our partners at Providence Community Health Investment. This unique program helps our community partners build data capacity, tell their stories, and amplify their impact.
I’d like to express our deepest gratitude to our funders, collaborators, and research participants for not only making our work possible but for also making it so much better.
Finally, thank you to the entire CORE team for who you are and what you do. Your passion, talent, and commitment continue to amaze and inspire.
Here’s to continued collaboration in the year ahead!
Who we are
The Center for Outcomes Research and Education (CORE) is an independent team of scientists, researchers, and data experts with a vision for a healthier, more equitable future. We work with communities and a wide variety of cross-sector partners to take on today’s biggest barriers to better health.
What we do
We help our partners gather, analyze, interpret, and use data and information for better decision-making and more effective programs and policies. Through this work, we deliver evidence and insights that shape and sustain healthier systems, policies, programs, and communities.
Our partners include:
Health systems; community-based organizations; Medicaid programs; foundations; the housing, education, and criminal/legal sectors; and more.
CORE’s work is delivering great results for peers in Southern Oregon. By facilitating and supporting conversations with local peers, you’ve made a real difference in our efforts to create a stronger, more connected peer community. Thank you!”
Cliff Juno
Regional Social Health Specialist & Traditional Health Worker Liaison, Jackson Care Connect
Our Approach
Creating & using evidence
At CORE, we believe that evidence-based and community-driven decision-making is vital to a healthier and more equitable future. That’s why we go beyond creating and gathering evidence and data; we help our partners turn it into action.
This deeply connected cycle of creating and using evidence is visible in our wide range of services for projects and partners of all sizes.
Our Services
Research & Evaluation
We evaluate the impact of innovative programs and policies and help our partners imagine how to make them better.
Data Collection & Analysis
We use quantitative and qualitative methods to give meaning to complex data and apply it to decision-making and program design. We also excel at working with data from across sectors such as housing, healthcare, and education.
Technical Assistance & Capacity Building
Our staff have the expertise to provide a wide range of technical assistance. We help organizations of all sizes strengthen their capacity to use data to support their goals.
2024: By the Numbers
In 2024, CORE partnered on high-impact research, evaluation, analytics, technical assistance, and capacity-building projects designed to advance health and health equity.
Partners & Funders
65+
Active Projects
30
Staff
27
Publications & Presentations
15
New Projects Awarded
20
CORE partner & project locations
CORE’s work supports communities up and down the West Coast and around the U.S. In addition to the 2024 project and partner locations pinned on this map, we also conduct research in New Mexico, Montana, Texas, and Alaska.
Awards
In 2024, two of CORE’s partnerships were recognized with awards focusing on innovation and impact.
Data for Change honored with a philanthropy innovation award
CORE was proud to have our Data for Change program recognized in 2024 with a Portland Business Journal Corporate Philanthropy Innovation Award. Over the past four years, this unique partnership with Providence Community Health Investment (CHI) has allowed CORE to provide technical assistance and data-related support to over 40 community-based organizations supported by CHI grants. By helping these partners use data in ways that work best for them, Data for Change is helping catalyze equity, innovation, and lasting impact for those they serve.
Kristen Lacijan, MS, MPH
Program Manager, CORE
This PBJ award is a fantastic reflection of Data for Change’s impact and how Providence is advancing philanthropic practices in Oregon by supporting it. It’s an honor to partner with so many amazing community-based organizations doing such important work.”
Building Healthy Communities evaluation recognized by AEA
At the 2024 American Evaluation Association (AEA) conference, Dr. Hanh Cao Yu was honored with an Outstanding Evaluation award for her work with CORE and other partners to evaluate The California Endowment’s Building Healthy Communities (BHC) initiative. CORE is one of several teams that collaborated on the evaluation of this 10-year, $1 billion community change initiative.
Project Highlights
Below are highlights from some of the impactful projects and partnerships we had the opportunity to support in 2024.
SHIFT: Advancing behavioral healthcare transformation
The SHIFT initiative seeks to transform behavioral healthcare in Oregon by building care models that improve access, reduce inequities, and prepare providers for advanced value-based payment models. CORE is proud to support this bold multi-year effort. Through a continuous cycle of dynamic and collaborative data collection, we’re helping CareOregon and its partners evaluate successes and opportunities for additional support and refinement as the initiative evolves.
Designing an evaluation of Oregon’s Medicaid Waiver innovations
Building on CORE’s 30-year history of studying Medicaid policies, in 2024 we developed an in-depth plan to evaluate the impact of four policy innovations that Oregon is testing through its 2022–2027 Medicaid 1115(a) Waiver. The plan, approved by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) in late 2024, will help the state understand the implementation of these policies and measure impacts on the health and well-being of the communities and populations it serves.
Hawk’s Eye: Housing healthcare workers
The innovative Hawk’s Eye project is taking on the healthcare workforce housing shortage in Clatsop County by converting a hotel into housing for workers and some Oregon Health Plan members with disabilities. CORE began studying this initiative in 2024. Stakeholder interviews and an environmental scan revealed insights on the state of the workforce, housing options, and effectiveness and best practices around employer-assisted housing for workers. CORE will explore the early impacts of this work in 2025.
“[The Hawk’s Eye project] is a really
good example of a lot of people
working together. It’s great for
the city of Seaside, for people that
want to move here and work in the
health industry, and great for some
people that need extra help.”
Community Stakeholder
Transforming care & outcomes through meaningful metrics
In 2024, CORE helped our partners at CareOregon, Health Share of Oregon, and Washington State’s Community Care Hubs select, customize, and create meaningful measurement and incentive metrics tailored to a variety of audiences and needs. From behavioral health metrics that reflect community priorities and evaluation metrics that track utilization and substance use disorder treatment rates to frameworks for innovative care coordination, our work underscores how smart metrics can support better outcomes, enhance patient experiences, and lower costs.
Healthy Birth: Partnering to improve Black birth outcomes
Health systems often partner with culturally specific organizations like Multnomah County’s Healthy Birth Initiatives (HBI) to enhance care and support for specific populations. CORE’s collaboration with Dr. Roberta Hunte examines one such partnership between Providence and HBI, which serves pregnant Black and African American individuals. This work revealed positive impacts of health system policies and practices tailored for these individuals, as well as important considerations for developing these types of partnerships.
Examining an innovative “housing as healthcare” Medicaid benefit
Recognizing housing’s essential role in health, the CORE team was excited to work with Health Share of Oregon and its health and housing system partners to study a pilot program that added a housing benefit for Health Share members. Our research provides a variety of actionable lessons from the pilot as Oregon implements housing support as a covered benefit to all eligible Oregon Health Plan members through the new Health-Related Social Needs policy. We will continue exploring the impacts of this housing benefit in 2025.
The learning and experience we gained from this pilot is already being used to inform program design at the state level, but equally important is the program’s impacts on individuals who gained life-changing access to housing and related supports.”
Alyssa Craigie, MPA
Director of Health System Integration, Health Share of Oregon
Supporting community-driven change for older adults
In early 2024, the California-based Advancing Health Equity in Aging Initiative established four Equity Community Organizing (ECO) Groups made up of older adults collaborating to identify and address critical issues affecting their communities and peers. Through interviews, document review, and active participation in group meetings, CORE is supporting collaborative learning across the initiative’s partners.
Data for Change: 4 years of learning and collaboration
2024 marked four years of CORE’s Data for Change program, which provides technical assistance, data-related support, and collaborative learning opportunities to Providence Community Health Investment community-based organization grantees. Highlights from 2024 include participation from 28 community-based organizations, six original webinars on topics like survey development and responsible data practices, and our annual in-person Data Summit. Data for Change was also honored with a Philanthropy Innovation award.
Studying Long COVID through dual lenses: EHR & patient-reported data
Many Long COVID studies have relied on either electronic health records (EHRs) or self-reported data. Yet neither alone fully captures patients’ multifaceted experiences with this complex condition. A CORE study that used Providence EHR data and journal entries from the My COVID Diary (MCD) project for the same group of patients is bridging this gap, comparing these two sources to understand what we can learn from each to create a more complete picture of Long COVID.
Combining the clinical insights of EHRs with the experiential details of patient-reported data can help researchers and clinicians better understand and address the multifaceted needs of Long COVID patients. This approach moves us closer to a healthcare system that truly sees and supports the whole person.”
Daniel Fish, PhD
Data Scientist, CORE
Behind the Scenes at CORE
Announcing our new headquarters
In October 2024, we celebrated the opening of CORE’s new headquarters! The recently renovated NE Portland space offers an open layout with several collaborative workspaces and offices, and a much-anticipated home base for CORE after our prior building was torn down. We’re excited for more in-person collaboration and events at this new location!
Building stronger team connections
From conferences and a volunteer day at Oregon Food Bank to a CORE Bake Off and a collaborative Paint-A-Plaque Party for decorating our new office, 2024 brought multiple opportunities to gather and build stronger bonds.
What's Next
Here are some of the exciting projects and partnerships we’re launching in 2025.
Evaluating Oregon’s Medicaid Demonstration Waiver
In 2025, CORE will launch an exciting multi-year project to evaluate Oregon’s 2022–2027 1115(a) Medicaid Demonstration Waiver. After designing a CMS-approved waiver evaluation plan in 2024, we were selected to implement the evaluation in collaboration with key partners. Anticipated to extend through 2029, this project will examine the implementation and efficacy of four new policies intended to promote continuous and coordinated care as well as better health and health equity for OHP members.
CORE’s experience studying not just what works in Medicaid, but what works for our state’s diverse communities and under what conditions, makes them an ideal partner to lead the evaluation of Oregon’s 2022–2027 1115 Demonstration Waiver. We look forward to collaborating with and learning from CORE and our other evaluation partners as we continue working to deliver better access to care, improve health outcomes, and lower costs through the Oregon Health Plan.”
Emma Sandoe, PhD
Medicaid Director, Oregon Health Authority
Examining Oregon’s ContraceptiveCare program
OHA has also selected CORE to design and implement an evaluation of the ContraceptiveCare (CCare) Medicaid program, which supports family health and reproductive autonomy by covering family planning services such as contraception for eligible participants. In the project’s first phase, our team will develop a plan for evaluating CCare with specific measures and research questions. Once approved, we will implement the evaluation using a variety of qualitative and quantitative research tools.
Oregon Perinatal Collaborative (OPC), William E. & Thelma F. Housman Foundation for Medical Research
Understanding the doula workforce in Oregon
As one of the first states to reimburse doula services for births covered by Medicaid, Oregon has worked to increase access, especially to culturally and linguistically matched doula care. That includes a significant Medicaid payment rate increase for birth doulas, adding birth doulas to the Traditional Health Worker registry, and expanding access to trainings. CORE is launching a project with OPC and the William E. & Thelma F. Housman Foundation for Medical Research to study the doula workforce, doula experiences, and integration with health systems.
Measuring the impacts of a 10-year community investment initiative
The Silicon Valley Program (SVP) is a 10-year philanthropic investment aimed at helping Silicon Valley’s low-wage and housing-insecure residents connect to community, achieve economic mobility, and have agency to craft their future. CORE is proud to have been selected as a third-party evaluator for the program. In collaboration with Sobrato Philanthropies and other evaluation partners, CORE will help design the overall participatory evaluation approach and lead potential components such as network mapping and outcomes measurement.
We are thrilled to join this ambitious, community-focused initiative at the outset and to help SVP monitor and learn about the impact of place-based strategies for economic mobility.”
Claire Devine, JD, MPH
Lead Research Associate, CORE
With Gratitude . . .
. . . to all our partners and funders, project participants, and community stakeholders for your collaboration and support. We’re proud to be a part of your important work!
. . . to the community members, providers, and survey and interview participants who put your trust in us and took the time to contribute to this work by sharing your insights and experiences.
. . . to the entire CORE team for your hard work, ideas, and commitment to advancing health and health equity every day.
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