Hospitals

Case Study: University Hospitals (Cleveland, OH)

David Zuckerman
Hospitals Building Healthier Communities: Embracing the Anchor Mission

University Hospitals System comprises the 1032-bed, former academic medical center of Case Western Reserve University, and six community hospitals across Northeast Ohio. The system employs more than 24,000 people and generates revenues in excess of $2 billion annually. A key initiative has been University Hospital’s Vision 2010 project, a $1.2 billion, five-year strategic growth plan that started in 2006. As part of Vision 2010, University Hospitals set separate goals to procure from local, minority- and women- owned businesses, and actively aimed to create new supplier capacity within the city. It also hired a third party to hold it accountable, voluntarily entered into a unique Project Labor Agreement, and has now started to apply this vision to its entire supply chain purchasing. Further still, University Hospitals is involved in other job creation and wealth building initiatives in the community.

Case Study: Henry Ford Health System (Detroit, MI)

David Zuckerman
Hospitals Building Healthier Communities: Embracing the Anchor Mission
Anchored by the 802-bed Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit, Henry Ford Health System has revenues of more than $4.2 billion, employs more than 10,000 people within the city and procures more than $650 million from its Detroit institutions. Henry Ford actively recognizes its position as an anchor institution, working with many partners to increase its impact in the community. Through a multi-institution partnership, Henry Ford has coordinated with Detroit Medical Center and Wayne State University to help revitalize Midtown Detroit by encouraging their employees to live, work, and invest in the same community. It has also helped found a local business incubator at Wayne State, set active goals to procure from local and diverse suppliers, and used its purchasing power to persuade suppliers to relocate to Detroit. Further still, Henry Ford has helped finance education partnerships for high-risk youth, is focused on acquiring and rehabilitating reclaimed properties, and has helped push local infrastructure improvements.

Greening Healthcare: How Hospitals Can Heal the Planet

Kathy Gerwig
Oxford University Press

Authored by Kaiser Permanente’s Environmental Stewardship Officer Kathy Gerwig, this new book provides a roadmap for healthcare institutions aiming to help build healthy and sustainable communities. Gerwig’s case studies of current hospital best practices identify environmentally preferable purchasing policies, investments in local food systems, and other green strategies that provide powerful examples of how healthcare institutions can meet existing community benefit requirements and reduce health disparities, thereby improving health outcomes while building wealth in low- to moderate- income communities. 

Community Wealth Building Conference

September 27th, 2014
Aurora, Colorado

Breakout session topics fall under the following themes:   Read more about Community Wealth Building Conference...

2014 South Carolina Community Economic Development Conference

August 21st, 2014
Charleston, South Carolina

Research Associate David Zuckerman will present findings from the report Hospitals Building Healthier Communities: Investing Outside Institutional WallsRead more about 2014 South Carolina Community Economic Development Conference...

Hospitals Building Healthier Communities: Investing Outside Institutional Walls

David Zuckerman
Hospitals in Pursuit of Excellence

Democracy Collaborative Research Associate David Zuckerman participated in an American Hospital Association-sponsored webinar through its Hospitals in Pursuit of Excellence platform.The presentation featured practitioners from Bon Secours Health System, University Hospitals in Cleveland, and Catholic Health East/Trinity Health discussing opportunities for hospitals to promote health through economic development and community investment. 

HEALTHY COMMUNITIES: A Framework for Meeting CRA Obligations

Elizabeth Sobel Blum

“There is a symbiotic relationship between the health and resilience of a country’s economy, and the health and resilience of a country’s people,” notes Richard Fisher, President of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, in his introductory remarks. In this paper, Dallas Fed economist Elizabeth Sobel-Blum aims to provide guidance to financial institutions seeking to comply with Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) obligations—as well as their customers, partners and target communities—regarding ways to leverage neighborhood assets to build community wealth and reduce health disparities. 

Stakeholder Health

This peer-led learning collaborative offers resources for hospital health system professionals developing place-based strategies to reduce health disparities. The website provides case studies and other reference materials to help health systems conduc Read more about Stakeholder Health...

Measuring Anchor Impact: Q&A with Ted Howard

Join us for a free ICIC webinar on June 5
So many anchors are now engaged in some sort of community and economic development locally. But how do they know if they are truly benefiting local residents? Having metrics and indicators to track the impact of their engagement is tremendously helpful in order to ensure that both the institution and the community are benefiting.

Can Anchor Organizations Measure Enlightened Self-Interest?

Join us for a free ICIC webinar on June 5
When community engagement strategies are marginalized and not viewed as integral to an organization’s core business, they are not sustainable. They are susceptible to budget cuts and changing leadership agendas. Quantifying the returns from community initiatives will help ensure that those initiatives are in place for the long-term.

Hospitals Building Healthier Communities: Investing Outside Institutional Walls

This webinar, organized by the Association for Community Health Improvement and the American Hospital Association, outlined opportunities for hospitals to promote health through economic development and community investment. The discussion used the findings of The Anchor Dashboard as a starting point to show how hospitals can broaden their impact on their surrounding communities.

A Practical Playbook

The de Beaumont Foundation, the Duke University Department of Community and Family Medicine, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have developed A Practical Playbook: Public Health & Primary Care Together that offers a new vision for linking health care and community wealth building. Read more about A Practical Playbook...

Cities at Work: Progressive Local Policies to Rebuild the Middle Class

Joel Rogers and Satya Rhodes-Conway

In a new report from the Center for American Progress, Joel Rogers and Satya Rhodes-Conway of the Center on Wisconsin Strategy (COWS) outline policies that cities can adopt to become more inclusive and sustainable. The authors espouse democratic organization as a critical component to social equity and wealth creation and highlight the critical linking of anchor procurement strategies and employee ownership, as seen in the Cleveland Model, to strengthen local economies and stabilize communities.

Perspectives and Next Steps in Creating a Healthier Healthcare System

Public Health Law Center

In September 2013, the Institute for a Sustainable Future hosted a Duluth, Minnesota conference for nearly 200 leaders active in healthcare delivery, public health, hospital administration, and community service organizations across the state. This paper builds on key lessons learned at the event and proposes next steps for hospitals to leverage the Affordable Care Act’s requirements for community engagement to improve community health and vitality.

 

A Collaborative, Cross-Sectoral, and Local Approach to Health

Public Health Law Center
Institute for a Sustainable Future

In September 2013, the Institute for a Sustainable Future hosted a Duluth, Minnesota conference for nearly 200 leaders active in healthcare delivery, public health, hospital administration, and community service organizations across the state. This paper builds on key lessons learned at the event and explores how the Affordable Care Act’s requirements for community engagement by hospitals can be directed to improve community health and vitality. It emphasizes how placed-based strategies can improve health outcomes, including linking anchor institutions to local procurement, employment, and housing initiatives. 

Cleveland as a Model for Anchor/Community Partnerships

New report highlights the Greater University Circle Initiative

Just released by the Cleveland Foundation, the new report Cleveland's Greater University Circle Initiative: Building a 21st Century City through the Power of Anchor Institution Collaboration provides a thorough overview of a long-term partnership among some of the city's key anchor institutions to foster inclusive, place-based community economic development. With innovative anchor-supported solutions around housing, transit, workforce training, and local procurement, the Greater University Circle Initiative is an effort that's well worth studying by other cities looking to leverage existing institutional assets to revitalize and rebuild their communities.

The Evergreen Cooperatives, one of the most visible pieces of the Initiative, offers a powerful example of the benefits these kinds of integrated anchor stategies can bring to economically marginalized neighborhoods, something this Evergreen worker's comments in the report makes clear:

Time to Act: Investing in the Health of Our Children and Communities

Elaine Arkin, Paula Braverman, Susan Egerter and David Williams
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Commission to Build a Healthier America released a new report that emphasizes the impact that socioeconomic factors, such as poverty, unemployment, housing, and crime, have on overall health outcomes and life expectancy. To address these social determinants, the Commission provides three key recommendations: increase investment in early childhood development, more effectively integrate health into community development, and reorient health professionals and healthcare institutions to invest in community strategies that help people lead healthy lives.