Healthcare Anchor Network
Join a growing national collaboration of over 45 leading healthcare systems building more inclusive and sustainable local economies
You can’t create equitable health outcomes for America’s communities without tackling the underlying economic and racial disparities that drive them—the structural determinants of health. Healthcare Anchor Network members are committed to making sure their institutional and operational resources are aligned with their clinical mission.
Join the Healthcare Anchor Network to…
“ProMedica is proud to be one of the founding members of the Healthcare Anchor Network because as a non-profit, mission based healthcare organization we believe it is imperative to invest in our communities and help to drive economic prosperity through local hiring, purchasing and investing strategies. The Network provides a forum where we can come together with peer institutions who share our commitment to Anchor Institution strategies and where we can develop innovative solutions to challenges, that will ultimately improve the health and well-being of those we serve. By focusing on inclusive economic strategies, health care can use its considerable breadth and depth to positively impact the economic determinants of health.”
Randy Oostra
CEO and President,
ProMedica
“Recognizing the inseparable relationship between the social determinants of health and health outcomes, it is essential for health care to play a leadership role in addressing the systemic inequities that prevent members of our communities from experiencing good health. RWJBarnabas Health is extremely proud to be a co-founding member of the Healthcare Anchor Network. Together, as anchor institutions, we share a mission of developing more effective strategies and innovative solutions to leverage our purchasing, hiring, and investing to benefit the communities we serve.”
Barry H. Ostrowsky
PRESIDENT AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, RWJBARNABAS HEALTH
“Rush’s mission of improving the health of the individuals and diverse communities we serve is about more than just providing quality health care. Significant health care inequities exist because there are additional factors that affect one’s health including poverty, limited job mobility, limited access to educational opportunities, inadequate neighborhood safety and infrastructure. These social determinants of health must be called out and addressed in partnership with community members if we are to make meaningful progress. No single institution or government agency can do this alone. We must start by developing trusting partnerships. We are fortunate to have Rush students, faculty and staff who are committed to reducing health inequities and furthering our Anchor strategy by investing, hiring, purchasing, and volunteering in our communities. The Healthcare Anchor Network can enhance our impact by allowing like-minded institutions to share best practices across the country. By doing this, the Healthcare Anchor Network is accelerating progress towards that common sense, yet ambitious goal.”
Larry Goodman
Former CEO and Current Board Member, Rush University Medical Center
“As health care leaders, we have economic leverage. We are often the major employer in the surrounding community where a hospital is located. We create jobs; we have political clout in the community; we have social influence. We need to use our clout to create an environment where people can live healthy lives, because health and social factors are interconnected. Disparities in health care exist mainly because of socio-economic conditions. If we don’t resolve these issues, we are not going to realize the health outcomes we seek for vulnerable people despite our best efforts. Equity and quality health care for all is the ‘Holy Grail” we strive to achieve. The Healthcare Anchor Network understands this imperative and is bringing healthcare systems together to work to address the social issues. The mutual learning of how to take on this massive challenge of addressing and correcting social determinants is invaluable.”
Ram Raju
Senior Vice President and Community Health Investment Officer, Northwell Health
Former CEO, NYC Health + Hospitals & Former CEO, Cook County Health and Hospitals System
With over 45 health systems (and counting) represented in the Network, we bring together anchor institutions from across the country that together employ more than 1.5 million people, purchase over $50 billion annually, and have over $100 billion in investment assets.
The latest news from the field
HAN members draw attention to the need for stable, affordable housing
On March 12, 2020, the Healthcare Anchor Network convened its members in Washington, D.C. for its second Housing for Health Policy Day, an event on Capitol Hill which saw Congressional staff, national healthcare associations, and housing advocacy groups attend a federal policy briefing about the impact of structural determinants of health and the universal need for stable, affordable, and healthy housing. 19 HAN member health systems participated in the event either in-person or virtually, and 22 health systems signed onto a Principles for Healthy and Affordable Housing document that was shared with Congressional members.
Continue Reading HAN members draw attention to the need for stable, affordable housing
Anchor institutions working with diverse entrepreneurs to build wealth, improve food access, and create jobs
HAN members Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Boston Children’s Hospital, along with other Boston anchor institutions, are procuring local and unique products from diverse, locally owned food start-up businesses. CommonWealth Kitchen, a nonprofit kitchen in Dorchester, MA, is incubating more than 50 small, mostly minority-owned, and community-based food start-up businesses. It adopted a strategy to help grow the start ups by connecting them to the product needs of Boston’s 20 hospitals and 31 universities, that comprise 18% of Boston’s employees.
Hospital investments to create affordable housing
A new collaboration was announced between Healthcare Anchor Network member RWJBarnabas Health, Pennrose, LLC, the City of Newark, and the New Jersey Housing and Mortgage Finance Agency (NJHMFA) under the agency’s Hospital Partnership Subsidy Program. The program views housing as key to maintaining good health and looks to the role of hospitals as anchor institutions in the community to partner with. Under the program, NJHMFA will match funding contributions from RWJBarnabas Health to develop 65-70 affordable rental apartments in Newark’s South Ward for low- and moderate-income families and for special needs residents.
Continue Reading Hospital investments to create affordable housing
Anchor Mission Communications Toolkit
Hospitals and health systems and other anchor institutions from across the country are adopting an “anchor mission” to tackle the underlying economic and social determinants of community health outcomes and community well being. But how can both the what and the why of this new transformative approach be effectively communicated, inside and outside your institution?
Kaiser Permanente pledges $25 million to California Access to Housing and Services Fund
Kaiser Permanente, a member of the Healthcare Anchor Network, is further responding to the California affordable housing crises by committing an additional $25 million to California Governor Gavin Newsom’s Access to Housing and Services Fund. The health system has already pledged $200 million in impact investments to support community health, particularly on affordable housing.
Anchor Mission strategies of HAN health system leaders spotlighted in Modern Healthcare series
Modern Healthcare ran a series highlighting how Healthcare Anchor Network (HAN) members have been stepping up efforts to reduce socio-economic, racial, and ethnic disparities in their communities and to build community wealth. The HAN members covered in the series include AMITA Health, Cleveland Clinic, Kaiser Permanente, Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago, Rush University Medical Center, The MetroHealth System, and University Hospitals.
New Resource: The Health Sector and the Healthcare Anchor Network Employer Maps
These maps were created to show the central role of hospitals and health systems as significant employers in their local economies. The maps show that Healthcare Anchor Network (HAN) members as well as other hospitals and health systems are some of the largest employers in their states and regions. HAN members alone, with 45 health systems represented in the Network, employ more than 1.5 million people. They also purchase over $50 billion annually and have over $100 billion in investment assets. Overall, the healthcare sector has enormous economic power and is responsible for producing 18% of GDP.
Continue Reading New Resource: The Health Sector and the Healthcare Anchor Network Employer Maps
MetroHealth is Building the Local Economy by Supporting Young People
HAN member MetroHealth created the country’s first high school in a hospital, Lincoln-West School of Science and Health, three years ago in Cleveland. In addition to offering regular high school courses, students learn about the health care sector and how to become nurses and doctors. The students come from low income families, and one third of them speak English as a second language.
Continue Reading MetroHealth is Building the Local Economy by Supporting Young People
Current participants in the Healthcare Anchor Network include:
“An anchor mission means sustainably investing in low-income neighborhoods and communities of color, addressing not just health disparities, but economic and racial inequities as well.”
—David Zuckerman, Director of the Healthcare Anchor Network
