How to Prepare for a ReThink Health Strategy Lab Description: The ReThink Health Strategy Lab is a facilitated educational forum, where diverse stakeholders may work together to explore how to improve local health system performance. Participants will design and test scenarios using the ReThink Health Dynamics simulation model—a simplified, yet realistic representation of a local health system. Planners may use this interactive tool to anticipate the likely consequences of various initiatives over time across a range of metrics including population health, care, cost, workforce productivity, social equity, spending, savings, return-oninvestment, and more. Preparation: The following brief exercises will help you prepare to make the most of your experience during the Strategy Lab. They should take about 1.5 hours. 1: Read Background Papers     Learning from Evidence in a Complex World Summary of the ReThink Health Simulation Model Intervention Options for Simulating Scenarios Complete a Pre-Session Self-Assessment 2: View Introductory Videos The following videos explain how to use the model’s online interface. There are also several exercises to help you develop greater comfort with the simulation tool.    Video #1: Test an Initiative Video #2: Interpret Results Video #3: Compare Results from Multiple Scenarios 3: Test Your Favorite Initiatives General Tips  Read all definitions very carefully.  Deliberate and decide which initiatives to study. Consider what you value and how to achieve it.  Begin with single initiatives, then combine elements to achieve better results.  Label each scenario with a descriptive name (“Cut Waste and Invest Upstream”).  Think critically about each scenario. Anticipate what will happen before simulating.  Learn iteratively through experiments  (e.g., systematically add or remove initiatives to see their contributions).  Focus on the pattern of results; do not be distracted by small differences.  Contact us if you have any questions. Just send a message to Rebecca Niles at ([email protected])  Register as a NEW USER and login to the ReThink Health Anytown model at http://tinyurl.com/RTH-ATL.  Simulate each of the five initiatives that you prioritized in the pre-session survey above.  Test each one individually and also combined to study their relative effects over time o Before simulating, sketch the expected consequences using the Worksheet for Anticipating Consequences. o Focus on the pattern of results by navigating through the Results tree. Discover what happened—and why. What are the main benefits and pitfalls? o Make sure to compare the results of your scenarios, as described in Video #3.