The Healthcare Anchor Network (HAN) along with co-authors from HAN members Rush University System for Health and UCLA Medical Center (part of UCLA Health) and HAN partner West Side United, wrote a commentary in the New England Journal of Medicine on how health systems’ everyday operations can support local economic growth.
From the NEJM commentary:
In 2018, Rush was joined by 5 other health systems — AMITA (now Ascension) Health, Cook County Health, Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago, Sinai Chicago, and University of Illinois Health — to establish West Side United (WSU), a racial-equity collaborative aligning investments in economic development, education, health care, and the built environment to benefit Chicago’s 500,000 West Side residents. The combined assets of these health care anchors are larger than those of any Illinois corporation and create potential for major collective impact.