Resource Library

How collaboration with community partners and identification of resources allowed Carroll Hospital to improve coordinated behavioral health services.

To move the needle on community health, hospitals and health system boards are recognizing the importance of aligning their organizational efforts and partnering with others in their communities.

To address gaps in care, hospitals and health systems are analyzing and sharing data and deploying outreach and resources through cross-sector partnerships.

Disparities in COVID-19 outcomes serve as an important reminder for trustees and senior leaders to reinforce the work in our communities to address underlying causes of health disparities.

Continually improving community health should be part of the DNA of a health care organization and its board.

Boards can advocate for policy changes or ways to harness community resources.

Philanthropy can drive innovative initiatives to address social, economic, educational and quality of life issues in the community.

In pursuit of its longstanding vision of a “society of healthy communities where all individuals reach their highest potential for health,” the American Hospital Association supports hospitals, health systems and related organizations in engaging in strategic initiatives that together create a path toward advancing health in America.

An aging population, increasing rates of chronic disease and the onset of value-based payment structures are among the many drivers that have moved hospitals and health systems in recent years to take a more prominent role in disease prevention, health promotion, and other public health initiatives.

Health care is transforming to a value-based model, with the goals of improved care quality, access and outcomes for consumers, at lower costs. The means of achieving these goals is the effective management of health and health care services over the continuum of a population’s care and service needs.

Hospitals’ and health systems’ accountability and commitment to their communities are not only for the care provided within the organizations’ walls, but also for improving the overall health of the communities they serve. Many are acting on that commitment by striving to achieve the goals of the Triple Aim.

Lessons Learned from Foster G. McGaw Prize Recipients Community Partnership Profiles - Advances in Health Care Governance Series

This report discusses the complex challenges involved in community health improvement and makes the case for why health systems should take a substantial role in the multi-sector collaboration needed to achieve significant impact.

The American Hospital Association (AHA) Board of Trustees, in 2015, created a task force to address these challenges and examine ways in which hospitals can help ensure access to health care services in vulnerable communities. The task force considered a number of integrated, comprehensive strategies to reform health care delivery and payment. Their report sets forth a menu of options from which communities may select based on their unique needs, support structures and preferences.

The U.S. health care system is quickly moving toward a care delivery model that encompasses entire populations, not just the patients who present themselves for care. This is because many at-risk individuals in the community seldom, if ever, seek treatment or health screenings—and they have a disproportionate impact on total health care spending.