Employee Ownership News archive

PRESS RELEASE Contact: Bich Ha Pham, Director, Communications & Policy, Healthcare Anchor Network, 202-559-1473 ext 3011, bpham@democracycollaborative.org Contact: Lindsey Corey, Director, Communications, Health Care Without Harm and Practice Greenhealth, press@hcwh.org A dozen health systems, some of the largest companies in their states, announced major shifts in procurement strategies to help address the economic, racial, and environmental disparities…

Healthcare Anchor Network (HAN) member Rush University Medical Center’s adoption of an organizational anchor mission and equity strategy to address the social and structural determinants of health is detailed in the NEJM article and covers Rush’s launch of a health care equity strategy; the creation of the Rush health equity framework, including the creation of West Side United…

On May 12th, HAN held its third Housing for Health Policy Day with the largest turn out yet for our annual event. We were joined by Sen. Todd Young, Rep. Jim McGovern and Rep. Dwight Evans, with a recorded message from Sen. Sherrod Brown. The Congressional members spoke about the importance of stable, affordable, and healthy housing, and…

MedStar Health is based in Columbia, Maryland and serves communities in the Maryland and Washington, D.C. region. The health system has 10 hospitals, more than 30,000 associates, and over 4,700 affiliated physicians.

Healthcare Anchor Network (HAN) members are investing in and supporting affordable housing. One example is Boston Medical Center, Boston Children’s Hospital, and Brigham and Women’s Hospital providing $3 million over three years for housing stability in Boston through the Innovative Stable Housing Initiative (ISHI). In addition to funding and investing support, HAN members are also working to address upstream…

Healthcare Anchor Network (HAN) members ProMedica, RWJBarnabas Health, and UC Davis Health are supporting job training and local hiring for community residents. UC Davis Health will be entering into a Community Benefit Agreement to provide jobs, job training, affordable housing, better transportation options, and youth education as part of its $3.75 billion plan to rebuild and expand the UC Davis…

HAN’s blog article highlights that by practicing local and diverse procurement, the health sector can support business development that has equitable economic and social impacts. From the HAN article:When local and minority and women owned businesses are awarded procurement contracts by health institutions, they are able to employ local residents and provide stable wages. This local…

We see the devastating impact of COVID-19 on small neighborhood businesses throughout our towns and cities. Too many stores and restaurants have closed, leaving empty or boarded up voids on our main streets. Many that remain are struggling to get by and unsure of how they’ll be able to fully get back on their feet…

HAN member Northwell Health has initiated the Gun Violence Prevention Learning Collaborative for Health Systems and Hospitals to share and develop best practices for reducing gun violence. The interactive forum unites healthcare organizations looking to the combat public health crisis. HAN members CommonSpirit Health and Mass General Brigham along with more than 300 health system leaders have signed onto the collaborative. Read the…

The Health Anchors Learning Network (HALN) is a UK-wide network taking the first step to create an action-oriented, inclusive, and informative network to adopt and apply anchor strategies in order to improve the SDOH and reduce inequalities. HALN will “help [National Health Services] NHS organisations to maximise their ‘anchor role’ in local economies to improve the wellbeing…

HAN member Providence’s leaders and Well Being Trust’s Tyler Norris discuss seven Standards of Excellence in Community Health Investments for broad consideration by health care systems and partners. They stress that a focus on the “vital conditions for intergenerational well-being” must be at the core of health systems’ efforts to deliver measurable outcomes and include HAN and the anchor mission framework…

Healthcare Anchor Network (HAN) members Baystate Health, Denver Health, and ProMedica are making news with their anchor mission focus of supporting education, training, and employment for lower-income individuals and those with barriers to employment. Denver Health is looking to improve the health and wellbeing of community members, not just with medical services, but with job opportunities. It has partnered with workforce development groups like Activate…

Going beyond their own commitment to anchor strategies, Healthcare Anchor Network (HAN) members Advocate Aurora Health, Baystate Health, Intermountain Healthcare, Maimonides Medical Center, and Rush University System for Health are helping incubate, fund, and lead local anchor collaboratives to scale and deepen the impact of these strategies in their communities. Advocate Aurora Health provided $675,000 in grants to develop a diverse health…

Headquartered in York, PA, WellSpan Health is a not-for-profit integrated health system serving communities across south central Pennsylvania and northern Maryland with eight hospitals and over 200 patient care locations. The health system has around 20,000 employees and around 2,600 physicians and advanced practice providers.

HAN members Cleveland Clinic and University Hospital, in partnership with the Cleveland Foundation, Case Western Reserve University, and the city of Cleveland launched Evergreen Cooperatives in 2007 as a place-based community wealth building strategy with the help of the Democracy Collaborative. Shelterforce’s article found that since then Evergreen Cooperative has added new co-ops, workers, and strategies. The Coop has…

The RUMC: Collaborating with community stakeholders case study shares how the anchor mission strategy provided an opportunity for RUMC to engage the community in new ways to ensure that its work was in line with the real world experiences of Chicago’s West Side residents. While RUMC had worked with community partners for decades, the idea of being more…

The HAN case study of the Anchors in Resilient Communities (ARC) FoodService Partners’ Food Commissary details how the collaboration came about and the key role of anchor institutions in investing in healthy and sustainable food systems, as well as procuring healthy produce from a community-based and mission-focused group. This new food production center will build…

Based in Sacramento, UC Davis Health serves 33 counties in northern California as the region’s only academic medical center. The health system has over 11,000 employees.

Michigan Medicine is the University of Michigan’s academic medical center. Based in Ann Arbor, it is one of the largest health care complexes in the state, with nearly 30,000 employees.

Based in St. Louis, Missouri, Ascension is a non-profit and Catholic health system serving communities with more than 2,600 sites of care – including 145 hospitals and more than 40 senior living facilities – in 19 states and the District of Columbia.

Rochelle, an M Health Fairview patient in Minnesota, was struggling to manage all of her different medications. Her doctors saw that her condition could be improved with access to fresh foods, and so they referred her to the VeggieRx program. Through VeggieRx, Rochelle received fresh produce and was able to not only improve her own…

Based in Milwaukee, Froedtert Health’s network includes five hospitals, more than 1,700 physicians, and nearly 40 health centers and clinics in Wisconsin.

Healthcare Anchor Network members Cleveland Clinic and Intermountain Health joined 35 companies to announce the formation of OneTen, an organization that will work with these companies to train and hire one million Black Americans over the next 10 years into family-sustaining jobs with career ladders for advancement. OneTen will work with these major employers, along with non-profits…

HAN member Mass General Brigham created the “United Against Racism” initiative to better to tackle and overcome the barriers to equity that exist in the institution. The system-wide plan includes specific timelines and metrics of success in its journey to becoming an anti-racist organization and includes changes in leadership, culture, and patient care. It also…

Hospitals and health systems have been put under immense pressure, treating COVID-19 patients during the surges and throughout the year, while also facing financial challenges due to the precipitous drop in surgeries and elective medical procedures. Despite this, Healthcare Anchor Network (HAN) member systems have looked to maintain and sometimes even strengthen their anchor mission…

SSM Health is a Catholic, not-for-profit health system serving the comprehensive health needs of communities across the Midwest in Illinois, Missouri, Oklahoma, and Wisconsin. The health system has care delivery sites in 23 hospitals, 11,000 providers, and nearly 40,000 employees, and is one of the largest employers in every community it serves.

Healthcare Anchor Network members Anchorum St. Vincent and RWJBarnabas Health are leveraging their funds to maximize their impact on community health and support their communities. Anchorum St. Vincent and Enterprise Bank Trust have committed $10 million to a new Community Catalyst Fund for affordable housing. Affordable housing developers such as Homewise, a Community Development Financial…

The Healthcare Anchor Network’s (HAN) Anchoring Resilience: Aligning Supply Chains and Impact Purchasing for Community Health summit catalyzed the conversation around how the healthcare sector could collaborate to more intentionally onshore and localize production of PPE and other important supplies with an emphasis on equity, sustainability, and supply chain resilience. The summit was supported by HAN member Kaiser…

The Healthcare Anchor Network’s (HAN) white paper Reimagining Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) Supply Chains calls for national leadership and healthcare sector collaboration to create PPE production capacity for American sourced and manufactured supplies. ­­The white paper was released at the HAN Anchoring Resilience: Aligning Supply Chains and Impact Purchasing for Community Health summit on November…

When coronavirus caused over 1.5 million people in Ohio to file for unemployment benefits, many did not have a computer or access to the internet in order to apply for benefits. “Several residents came to my house to have me walk them through getting unemployment because they didn’t have a computer, and they didn’t know…

Healthcare Anchor Network member Saint Alphonsus Health System, a member of Trinity Health, met with Idaho and Oregon Congress members for the HAN Housing for Health Policy Day 2020 and were successful in gaining support for the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC), particularly by focusing on the program’s positive impact on overlooked rural communities. At…

Healthcare Anchor Network members Boston Medical Center, Boston Children’s Hospital, and Brigham and Women’s Hospital were awarded $5 million over three years from JPMorgan Chase’s “AdvancingCities” Challenge for the Boston Opportunity System Collaborative. The initiative aims to advance local inclusive hiring strategies, as well as build and preserve affordable housing.

HAN member Providence St. Joseph Health announced a new commitment of $50 million over the next five years to reduce health disparities and achieve health equity, beginning with an immediate response to the impact of COVID-19, particularly for communities of color and those disproportionately affected by the pandemic. The health system published a recent study,…

39 health systems in 45 states and Washington, DC have committed to addressing racism and the public health disparities caused by racism. “As members and leaders of many healthcare organizations across the nation addressing the disproportionate Black and Brown mortality of the COVID-19 pandemic, we say without hesitation that Black Lives Matter.”

Healthcare Anchor Network member UMass Memorial Health Care has announced a seven-year, $500,000 impact investment to Creative Hub Worcester, a proposed arts and events community center. The 40,000-square-foot facility can hold up to 300 people and will include two dance studios and performance space, more than a dozen small studios for artists, three classrooms, a…

Based in Greensboro, North Carolina, Cone Health serves people in the Alamance, Forsyth, Guilford, Randolph, Rockingham and surrounding counties with more than 100 locations, including six hospitals.

In an article in Forbes, Healthcare Anchor Network member RWJBarnabas Health’s President and CEO Barry H. Ostrowsky and Michellene Davis, Executive Vice President and Chief Corporate Affairs Officer, write about four ways that large scale corporations can begin to promote an anchor institution approach. They point out that “COVID-19 has underscored the fact that band-aid…

Healthcare Anchor Network member Kaiser Permanente has committed $63 million to support contact tracing in California that will involve partnering with the Public Health Institute to hire and train 500 full-time residents from the hardest hit communities to be contract tracers. In addition to a quality job, the program will be positioning these individuals for…

Healthcare Anchor Network member CommonSpirit Health, along with UnitedHealthcare and Aetna, has committed $35 million in financing to launch the Home Matters Arizona Fund for affordable housing projects. The project will invest $100 million in phase one to finance community development and affordable housing projects that proactively foster connected and healthier lives. From the Home…

Healthcare Anchor Network (HAN) member Intermountain Healthcare, along with a group of private institutions including the Clark and Christine Ivory Foundation and Zions Bank, created the Utah Housing Preservation Fund with the goal of raising $100 million to preserve subsidized and “naturally occurring” affordable housing. This year, the Preservation Fund helped secure 24 duplexes that…

HAN member Rush University Medical Center’s David Ansell, senior vice president for community health equity, spoke about the Chicago Hospital Engagement, Action and Leadership Initiative, or HEAL, that HAN members Advocate Christ Medical Center, AMITA Health’s Saints Mary and Elizabeth Medical Center, and Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago are also members of. The HEAL action…

Across the country we have seen community members mobilize to volunteer, donate, and produce needed medical supplies and equipment for our hospitals throughout the pandemic. Healthcare Anchor Network members’ anchor mission strategies of community engagement, volunteerism, and local inclusive procurement positioned them to move swiftly. Some examples include HAN members Intermountain Healthcare and University of…

Healthcare Anchor Network member Maimonides Medical Center’s anchor mission approach is spotlighted in Building a Culture of Health in Central Brooklyn: From Protest to Health Systems Transformation, published by MIT CoLab. The case study tells the story of the partnership between the Coalition to Save and Transform Interfaith, Maimonides Hospital’s Community Care of Brooklyn, and…

University of Maryland Medical System is a university-based regional health care system focused on serving the health care needs of Maryland residents. UMMS delivers approximately 25 percent of all hospital care in Maryland and serves a vital role in the state’s economy by employing 28,000 workers.

The Democracy Collaborative prepared a report, created for the Healthcare Anchor Network, that looked at how racial and ethnic disparities in the economy are showing up in the COVID-19 pandemic and in the public policy response to the pandemic. The report also covers how the economic effects of the pandemic will likely impact racial and…

The COVID-19 crisis and nationwide uprisings against police violence have magnified the connection between systemic racism, social and economic inequities and poor health outcomes. How can anchor institutions meet this moment to address the physical, economic, and social impacts of the pandemic and begin to repair the harm caused by systemic racism in communities? This…

Healthcare Anchor Network members Advocate Aurora Health, AMITA Health, Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago, and Rush University Medical Center were co-signers to a pivotal and ground-breaking joint statement published in Chicago newspapers declaring systemic racism a public health crisis. The signatory institutions are a part of the City of Chicago’s Racial Equity Rapid Response Team.

This opinion piece co-authored by Weston Consulting CEO Marla J. Weston, PhD, RN, (formerly the CEO of the American Nurses Association Enterprise), Healthcare Anchor Network manager for communications and policy Bich Ha Pham, and HAN director David Zuckerman in the Nursing Administration Quarterly aims to further engage nurses as anchor mission leaders. The article describes…

Dr. Thomas Dean Sequist, Chief Patient Experience and Equity Officer at Healthcare Anchor Network member Mass General Brigham, testified at the U.S. House of Representative’s hearing on the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on communities of color. He spoke about about the impact the pandemic has had in Chelsea, MA, as well as on the Navajo…

The Healthcare Anchor Network (HAN) is a promotional sponsor of the Modern Healthcare virtual Social Determinants of Health Symposium on June 2, 2020 with HAN member Intermountain Health as the lead sponsor. With COVID-19, our nation has a glimpse into how deep health disparities run. The SDOH Symposium will cover actionable takeaways for addressing health…

The Democracy Collaborative and the Coalition of Urban and Metropolitan Universities co-coordinate the Anchor Learning Network, which is designed to facilitate a more rapid and effective advancement of the anchor mission within its member institutions, in their home communities, and across the higher education sector. In this video, members of the Anchor Learning Network share…

COVID-19 has revealed that outsourcing medical equipment supply chains to other countries can lead to significant shortages. As a result, hospitals and health systems are looking to local vendors for PPEs and other needed supplies. For example, HAN member Trinity Health contracted with a local woman-owned and -led company, Detroit Sewn, to produce 50,000 masks…

Long-standing racial and income disparities are being illuminated in this pandemic, with disparate impacts on people of color, immigrants, and those without access to healthcare. Nationally, Black Americans are dying of COVID-19 at a rate of more than twice their population share (black individuals represent 13% of the population in states releasing data, but 28%…

Healthcare Anchor Network member Kaiser Permanente is supporting National Health Care for the Homeless Council as a community intermediary to fund at least four housing activist groups in California, Seattle and Portland, Oregon, areas hard hit by COVID-19, having nearly half of all coronavirus cases in the nation. Kaiser Permanente’s $1 million will help prevent…

Healthcare Anchor Network (HAN) members Advocate Health Care, AMITA Health, Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago, and Rush University Medical Center, along with the City of Chicago, other anchor institutions and companies, are members of Chicago Anchors for a Strong Economy (CASE). CASE aims to generate inclusive economic growth through anchor procurement.

The North Heights Linen Service is a 25,000-square-foot facility that will serve local and regional linen needs for hospitals, and will be a worker-owned cooperative business. The project funding is spearheaded by the Amarillo Area Foundation, as well as many local banks. The business is projecting to hire 40 nearby resident employees, eventually expanding to…

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…

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…

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…

OU Medicine — along with its academic partner, the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center — serves residents of Oklahoma and the region with a comprehensive academic health system of hospitals, a children’s hospital, clinics and centers.

Based in New Haven, Connecticut, Yale New Haven Health serves patients with five hospitals – Yale New Haven, Bridgeport, Greenwich, Lawrence + Memorial and Westerly – and is affiliated with Yale University and its Yale School of Medicine.

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?

Toolkit Links Below are links to the resources and information referred to in the Anchor Mission Communications Toolkit, produced by the Healthcare Anchor Network (HAN) in collaboration with Rush University Medical Center (Rush). Rush’s Anchor Mission PlaybookRush’s Chicago Magazine articleRush’s Total Health Collaborative videoEmbracing an Anchor Mission: ProMedica’s All-In StrategyHAN’s Anchor Philanthropy Initiative Group’s table comparing traditional philanthropy with anchor philanthropyCleveland…

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. …

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,…

In December 2016, leaders from 40 health systems gathered in Washington, DC to explore the potential to more fully harness their economic power to inclusively and sustainably benefit the long-term well-being of American communities. This report summarizes the events of the convening and presents the health systems’ collective vision of the Healthcare Anchor Network.

This document, created by the Aligning to Advance Policy Initiative Group of the Healthcare Anchor Network, outlines the foundational elements of a policy agenda to create equitable, engaged, connected and economically strong communities.

In addition to our work as the backbone organization for the Healthcare Anchor Network, The Democracy Collaborative can facilitate a variety of processes designed to help your institution accelerate your Anchor Mission, ranging from half-day workshops to multi-month engagements that include stakeholder interviews and intensive coaching.

​Authored by CHAN Healthcare for the Healthcare Anchor Network, with input from the Healthcare Anchor Network’s Collaborating with Community Stakeholders initiative group, this document presents best practices for aligning Community Benefit and Community Health Needs Assessment processes.

This report from The Democracy Collaborative and the Department of Urban Studies and Planning at MIT focuses on the path-breaking Vision 2010 Program implemented in Cleveland and Northeast Ohio by University Hospitals System.

Summary of research that connects economic inclusion with improving health outcomes.

One-pager on place-based investment with case studies, key strategies, and tips for getting started.

This roadmap collects common milestones in the Anchor Mission implementation journey and shares examples of how health systems have educated staff on community needs and the Anchor Mission vision, created new staff positions to advance anchor strategies, developed dashboards to track progress, and more.

One-pager on inclusive, local purchasing with case studies, key strategies, and tips for getting started.

One-pager on inclusive, local hiring and workforce development with case studies, key strategies, and tips for getting started.

This 2013 report from The Democracy Collaborative explores how health systems are addressing the upstream social and economic determinants of health.

The infographic below provides a quick overview of how place-based investing can create sustainable returns and strong communities.

The infographic below provides a quick overview of how connection-creating and capacity-building strategies can work together to advance local, inclusive sourcing.

This infographic provides a quick overview of how “outside-in” and “inside-up” strategies work together to create a more inclusive workforce.

Hawai‘i Pacific Health serves Hawaiians with four medical centers – Kapi‘olani, Pali Momi, Straub and Wilcox – and more than 70 locations across the island community. 

This slide deck can be used to make the case internally for adopting an anchor mission at your hospital or health system. It articulates the moral, business, and community imperative for aligning all assets, including core business practices, to prioritize equity, inclusion, sustainability and community.

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…

This infographic shows how hospitals, health systems and other anchor institutions can improve community health and build community wealth through their everyday hiring and training practices.

This infographic shows how hospitals, health systems and other anchor institutions can leverage their everyday building and buying to improve community health and build community wealth.

These maps were created to show the central role of hospitals and health systems as significant employers in their local economies.

Originally founded as City Hospital in 1860, Denver Health has been serving the people of Denver and the Rocky Mountain Region for more than 150 years. Today, Denver Health delivers preventative, primary and acute care services.

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…

Bon Secours Mercy Health was one of 14 Healthcare Anchor Network (HAN) members that announced commitments of over $700 million in impact investing in November 2019. This Reuters article covers the health system’s investment partnership with Maggie Walker Community Land Trust to build permanently affordable homes in Richmond, Virginia—and the lives this investment has impacted.

Fourteen hospitals and health systems, including national health systems and regional systems, that are the largest private sector employers in California, Utah, and Wisconsin, along with others that are also among the top 20 largest employers in their states, announced a commitment of over $700 million for place-based investing to create strong and healthy communities.

In December 2016, leaders from 40 health systems gathered in Washington, DC to explore the potential to more fully harness their economic power to inclusively and sustainably benefit the long-term well-being of American communities. This report summarizes the events of the convening and presents the health systems’ collective vision of the Healthcare Anchor Network. It…

Healthcare’s role in creating healthy communities through increasing access to quality care, research, and grantmaking is being complemented by a higher impact approach; hospitals and integrated health systems are increasingly stepping outside of their walls to address the social, economic, and environmental conditions that contribute to poor health outcomes, shortened lives, and higher costs in…

Written by Randy Oostra, CEO of ProMedica, with the support of David Zuckerman and Katie Parker from The Democracy Collaborative, this report offers an in-depth look at how ProMedica—a member of the Healthcare Anchor Network —aligned its institutional operations and clinical practice to better tackle the social determinants of health. From an innovative hospital-owned grocery…

Written by Rush University Medical Center, with support from Chicago Anchors for a Strong Economy, the Civic Consulting Alliance, and The Democracy Collaborative, this playbook offers recommendations drawn from research carried out to help Rush University Medical Center align around its Anchor Mission. These findings are intended to help other hospitals and health systems accelerate…

This toolkit outlines place-based investing strategies that allow health systems to earn a financial return on their investments while producing a positive social, economic, or environmental impact within their geographical service areas.​

This toolkit showcases examples of how hospitals and health systems are supporting diverse and locally owned vendors and helping to incubate new community enterprises to fill supply chain gaps and drive local economic growth in their communities.

This toolkit offers a guide for how to leverage hiring practices to advance inclusive, local job creation and career development for communities experiencing the greatest health and wealth disparities.

The staff at The Democracy Collaborative (TDC) and the Healthcare Anchor Network (HAN) are deeply shocked and saddened by the sudden passing of Bernard J. Tyson, Chairman and CEO of Kaiser Permanente. Words can’t express how much Bernard’s passing impacts all who were fortunate to have met and shared time with him. We would like…

VCU Health, headquartered in Richmond, Virginia, serves roughly 40,000 inpatients in the Richmond metro area, and employs 11,000 people.

UVA Health System, headquartered in Charlottesville, Virginia, serves more than 28,000 inpatients and more than 800,000 outpatients annually in central and western Virginia, and employs roughly 7,000 people.

UVM Health Network, headquartered in Burlington, Vermont, serves patients in Vermont and upstate New York, and employs 7,500 people.

UNM Health Sciences Center, headquartered in Albuquerque, New Mexico, serves approximately 900,000 patients annually in New Mexico, and employs 19,500 people.

University Hospitals, headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio, serves over 1 million patients in northeast Ohio and employs 28,000 people.

UCSF Medical Center, headquartered in San Francisco, California, serves the Greater San Francisco area and employs 12,000 people.

Spectrum Health, headquartered in Grand Rapids, Michigan, serves 1 million patients at 14 different hospitals throughout western Michigan, and employs 30,000 people.

Seattle Children’s Hospital, headquartered in Seattle, Washington, serves children in the Greater Seattle area and employs 7,800 people.

San Mateo County Health is headquartered in San Mateo, California and serves as a county level health department.

MetroHealth System, headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio, serves over 300,000 patients annually in Cleveland and Cuyahoga County, and employs 7,700 people.

Maimonides Medical Center, headquartered in Brooklyn, New York, serves over 43,000 patients annually in that borough of New York City.

Lurie Children’s Hospital, headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, serves more than 220,000 children each year in the Greater Chicago area, and employs 5,000 people.

Cleveland Clinic, headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio, serves patients at 18 different hospital locations in Northeast Ohio, Florida, Nevada, Toronto and Abu Dhabi, and employs 52,000 people.

University of Utah Health, headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah, serves 155,000 patients in Idaho, Nevada, Wyoming, Montana, and New Mexico, and employs 14,000 people.

UMass Memorial Health Care, headquartered in Worcester, Massachusetts, serves patients in central and western Massachusetts and employs 13,000 people.

Trinity Health, headquartered in Livonia, Michigan, serves patients from 93 different hospitals across 22 states, and employs 133,000 people.

RWJBarnabas Health, headquartered in West Orange, New Jersey, serves 2 million patients across the state and employs 32,000 people.

Rush University Medical Center, headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, serves the Greater Chicago area and employs 10,000 people.

Providence St. Joseph Health, headquartered in Renton, Washington, serves 5 million patients in the states of Alaska, California, Oregon, Washington, Texas, Montana, and New Mexico, and employs 120,000 people.

ProMedica, headquartered in Toledo, Ohio, serves 2 million patients in northwest Ohio and southeast Michigan and employs 56,000 people.

Mass General Brigham, headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts, serves the Greater Boston area. In 1994, Partners HealthCare was founded by Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Massachusetts General Hospital, two of the nation’s leading academic medical centers. Mass General Brigham now includes 16 member institutions.

Washington, D.C., November 5, 2019 – Fourteen hospitals and health systems, including national health systems and regional systems, that are the largest private sector employers in California, Utah, and Wisconsin, along with others that are also among the top 20 largest employers in their states, announced a commitment of over $700 million for place-based investing…

Franciscan Missionaries Of Our Lady Health System, headquartered in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, serves 331,000 patients in Louisiana and Mississippi and employs 11,000 people.

Northwell Health, headquartered in Manhattan, New York, serves 2 million patients in the New York Metropolitan area and employs 68,000 people.

Kaiser Permanente, headquartered in Oakland, California, serves 12.2 million patients in California, Colorado, Georgia, Hawaii, Maryland, Oregon, Virginia, Washington, and Washington, D.C., and employs 300,000 people.

Intermountain Healthcare, headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah, serves 137,000 patients in Utah and Idaho, and employs 37,000 people.

Henry Ford Health System, headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, serves the Greater Detroit area and employs 30,000 people.

Gundersen Health System, headquartered in LaCrosse, Wisconsin, serves 1.3 million patients in western Wisconsin, northeastern Iowa, and southeastern Minnesota, and employs 7,000 people.

M Health Fairview, headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota, serves over 100,000 patients in the Greater Minneapolis area and employs over 34,000 people.

Einstein Healthcare Network, headquartered in East Norriton, Pennsylvania, serves the Greater Philadelphia area and employs 8,500 people.

Dartmouth-Hitchcock Health, headquartered in Lebanon, New Hampshire, serves the state of New Hampshire as its only academic medical center and employs 5,000 people.

CommonSpirit Health, headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, serves across 21 states and employs 150,000 people. In 2018, Dignity Health and Catholic Health Initiatives (CSH’s managing organizations) treated 20 million patients.

CHRISTUS Health, headquartered in Dallas, Texas, serves Eastern Texas, Santa Fe in New Mexico, southwest Arkansas, Louisiana, and parts of Mexico, Chile, and Colombia, employing 45,000 people domestically and 15,000 people internationally.

Christiana Care Health System, headquartered in Wilmington, Delaware, serves all of Delaware and parts of the 7 counties bordering Delaware in Pennsylvania, Maryland, and New Jersey, employing 11,856 people.

Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, serves the Greater Philadelphia area and employs 14,000 people.

Boston Medical Center, headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts, served 26,339 patients in the Greater Boston area in 2018, and currently employs 5,000 people.

Boston Children’s Hospital, headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts, serves approximately 25,000 patients each year in the Greater Boston area, and employs 13,000 people.

Bon Secours Mercy Health, headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio, employs 57,500 people across the states of Florida, South Carolina, Ohio, Kentucky, Virginia, Maryland, and New York. This health system has a net operating revenue of more than $8 billion.

BJC HealthCare, headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri, serves the southern Illinois and mid-Missouri areas with 15 hospitals.

Baystate Health, headquartered in Springfield, Massachusetts, serves Western Massachusetts and employs 12,000 people.

Anchorum St. Vincent, headquartered in Santa Fe, New Mexico, serves the areas of Sante Fe and northern New Mexico.

Alameda Health System, headquartered in Alameda, California, serves the San Francisco East Bay area and employs 4,500 people. In 2017, this health system saw over 200,000 inpatient clinic visits and over 300,000 outpatient visits.

Advocate Aurora Health, headquartered in Illinois and Wisconsin, serves 2.7 million patients in both states and employs 70,000 people.

AdventHealth, headquartered in Altamonte Springs, Florida, operates healthcare facilities in 9 different states across the United States and employs roughly 77,000 people.

A major feature online this week and in print this past Sunday in the New York Times highlights the work of the Democracy Collaborative to enlist healthcare anchor institutions—and their considerable institutional resources—as key drivers of community wealth building.

In an opinion piece in the Grantmakers In Health “News from the Field” newsletter, David Zuckerman and Bich Ha Pham make the case for funders to support expansion of anchor mission work as a strategic priority.

The Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health’s “Student fieldwork helps anchor Worcester-based health care system in community” article discusses how two doctor of public health (DrPH) students, Ahmad Al Kasir and Eric Coles, worked with Healthcare Anchor Network member UMass Memorial Health Care in Worcester, Massachusetts to develop its ambitious new anchor mission strategy.

​Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP), a member of the Healthcare Anchor Network, has started the CHOP Cares Grant Program, a unique program to help its employees improve community members’ health by applying for grants for projects seeking to address a broad range of health and wellness concerns.

Boston Ujima Project is a community controlled engine for economic revitalization directed by those most marginalized in the current system, working intentionally to channel impact investing to community-owned businesses—and to connect those businesses to the anchor procurement opportunities that can help them thrive.

A new report, Advancing Health Equity in San Francisco, represents the first step in implementing a long-term strategy to harnessing HAN member University of California San Francisco’s (UCSF) economic power to promote health equity in San Francisco. UCSF is committing to an expanded and deepened anchor mission, and aims to capitalize on its position as…

The Healthcare Anchor Network collaborated with Modern Healthcare on a successful conference focused on the SDOH and anchor mission work. The symposium was attended by 300 healthcare sector executives, leaders and providers, who were interested in learning more about how hospitals and health systems can adopt anchor mission work.

​This new report by Justine Porter, Danny Fisher-Bruns and Bich Ha Pham of The Democracy Collaborative, discusses the work of anchor institutions (including several HAN members) and partner organizations that have joined to form place-based networks, or anchor collaboratives, to develop, implement, and support shared goals and initiatives that advance equitable and inclusive economic development…

The Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health’s “Anchoring Health beyond Clinical Care: UMass Memorial Health Care’s Anchor Mission Project” showcases how HAN and its health systems supported UMass Memorial Health Care’s Anchor Mission journey.

The Playbook includes a chapter written by HAN members Michellene Davis with RWJBarnabas Health and David Ansell with Rush University Medical Center, along with David Zuckerman with The Democracy Collaborative/HAN, titled Rethinking the Mission of Health Systems: Improving Community Health as Anchor Institutions.

HAN member David Ansell with Rush University Medical Center, Kristen Pallok, and Fernando De Maio wrote a case study titled Structural Racism — A 60-Year-Old Black Woman with Breast Cancer and propose three critical strategies for addressing structural racism in health care.

Starting this year HAN member Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP), in partnership with the Philadelphia Housing Development Corp., initiated a new campaign called CAPP+ which is a pilot program to conduct asthma-trigger removal in the homes of 10 CAPP patients.

Kaiser Permanente’s Dr. Bechara Choucair writes about the health system’s participation in the Healthcare Anchor Network-sponsored Housing for Health Congressional briefing to raise awareness among federal lawmakers and to advocate for actionable policy solutions.

MetroHealth has pledged to work to increase its hiring of local workers and to use small, minority and women-owned Cleveland businesses as part of a Community Benefits Agreement for construction of its $946-million transformation plan, an 11-story 264-bed hospital on its main campus in Cleveland.

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s 2019 list of the healthiest counties in the U.S. focused on access to good and affordable housing as a pressing health issue. Another housing and health report by Enterprise’s Health Begins with Home initiative included survey results showing that renters often delay regular medical visits and forego treatment plans, particularly…

MetroHealth announced that all employees will receive a $15 minimum wage increase as part of its commitment to give all full-time employees the ability to earn a self-sustaining income. Cleveland Clinic announced last December that it would raise the minimum wage for hourly employees to $15 by 2020. The minimum wage in Ohio is $8.55…

Healthcare Anchor Network members Advocate Christ Medical Center, AMITA Health’s Saints Mary and Elizabeth Medical Center, Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago, and Rush University Medical Center, together with six of the other largest hospitals serving Chicago, announced the formation of HEAL, a groundbreaking new initiative aimed at reducing violence and improving health in Chicago’s most…

Last year, HAN member RWJBarnabas Health launched a “Social Impact and Community Investment Practice” (SICI) that includes collaborative social impact initiatives which address the social, economic, and environmental conditions that contribute to poor health outcomes, reduced life expectancy, and higher costs.

The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) Network article focuses on the growing number of hospitals and health systems that are initiating projects to deal with the effects of the national housing crisis.

HAN is highlighted in this Shelterforce article, along with Enterprise Community Partners, the Center for Community Investment, and the Nonprofit Finance Fund, as organizations working with health care institutions, community development organizations, and other stakeholders to invest in the health of a community.

The World Health Organization (WHO) issued a report, “Economic and Social Impacts and Benefits of Health Systems,” which provides evidence and practical methods to show that the health sector is essential to a stable and functioning economy. This report seeks to assist European policy-makers by providing guidance and tools to engage in stronger dialogue and…

HAN member Fairview Health Services’ Health East is working with the Hmong American Farmers Association (HAFA) in St. Paul, Minnesota to provide access to healthy food for families experiencing food insecurity who are economically challenged to put healthy food on the table. This is particularly vital for people struggling with chronic diseases like diabetes and…

Intermountain Healthcare announced a commitment to local impact investing as a part of its commitment to improving health in the communities it serves. Marc Harrison, MD, Intermountain’s CEO and president, and Mikelle Moore, Intermountain’s senior vice-president of community health (pictured above), made the announcement at the Sorenson Impact Winter Innovation Summit in Salt Lake…

On February 28, 2019, the Healthcare Anchor Network (HAN) convened its members in Washington, D.C. for “Housing for Health” Policy Day, an inaugural event on Capitol Hill which saw Congressional and Administration staff, national healthcare associations, housing advocacy groups, and philanthropy organizations attend a federal policy briefing about the impact of economic determinants on health…

Geisinger, a member of the Healthcare Anchor Network, will provide a $300,000 forgivable, interest-free loan to fund fully the start of a new groundbreaking high-speed broadband internet access project which is expected to serve about 90 percent of Montour County, Pennsylvania’s population.

Healthcare Anchor Network member Kaiser Permanente’s chairman and chief executive Bernard Tyson, along with other Kaiser Permanente leaders and joined by Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf, announced three major initiatives to improve health outcomes by creating safe, stable, and affordable housing in Oakland and across the country, explaining that “access to affordable housing is a key…

An article in Shelterforce article details how Healthcare Anchor Network member Dignity Health (now CommonSpirit Health – a merger between Dignity Health and Catholic Health Initiatives completed on January 31, 2019) stepped in to fund a stalled affordable housing project in San Bernardino’s core neighborhoods.

Healthcare Anchor Network members Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago and Rush University Medical Center, together with NorthShore University Health System and the University of Chicago Medicine, and in collaboration with community groups (such as Westside United) and public institutions, have created the Medical Assistant Pathway Program to give employees the opportunity to complete certification programs…

The Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) News covered how medical schools and teaching hospitals are increasingly collaborating with local communities to improve health by dealing with economic barriers. HAN and HAN members Rush University Medical Center, University Hospitals and Evergreen Cooperatives (formed by University Hospitals, the Cleveland Clinic, Case Western Reserve University, and the…

PAGE is a recently-launched partnership between the Economy League, the City of Philadelphia, Healthcare Anchor Network member Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP), and more than a dozen Philadelphia-area institutions. PAGE looks to “increase local purchasing by large institutional buyers to grow Philadelphia businesses, strengthen the local economy, create jobs, and build wealth.”

The Wall Street Journal’s “Take Two Aspirin—and a Serving of Kale: Wielding food as medicine, hospitals are focusing on nutrition, sending patients home with prescriptions as well as bags of good food” article covered the important work of Healthcare Anchor Network member ProMedica and other health systems and hospitals taking measures to prevent and treat…

The Opportunity Atlas, a new data tool, allows us to answer the question: Which neighborhoods in America offer children the best chance to rise out of poverty? The big news is that the data found no association between job growth and economic mobility for poor residents. What ended up happening when there were hiring booms…

In a new article published in The Wharton Healthcare Quarterly, David Zuckerman and Bich Ha Pham of The Democracy Collaborative discuss the smart, bold leadership that Healthcare Anchor Network members are engaged in with their anchor mission work. The Democracy Collaborative urges other health systems from across the country to join the effort to do…

The Wall Street Journal’s “Health Care Looks Beyond Medicine to Social Factors” article covered the good work of four Healthcare Anchor Network members in addressing the social determinants of health: Geisinger Health System, Rush University Medical Center, Kaiser Permanente and Boston Medical Center.

An article in Next City covers The Democracy Collaborative’s new report Community Control of Land & Housing: Exploring strategies for combating displacement, expanding ownership, and building community wealth. The report discusses strategies related to land and housing that can help create inclusive, participatory, and sustainable economies built on locally-rooted, broad-based ownership of place-based assets. HAN…

Madeline Bell, CEO of Healthcare Anchor Network member Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP), writes for US News & World Report about their work to overcome the negative health impacts of SDOH, particularly for the sake of children. CHOP has teamed with Penn, Drexel and other anchor institutions in West Philadelphia to invest in University…

Healthcare Anchor Network members presented the first of its kind session on the movement to adopt an anchor mission of healthcare at the American Hospital Association’s Leadership Summit in July. Powerful presentations by health system CEOs from RWJBarnabas Health, ProMedica, and Gundersen Health discussed how they have engaged with the culture of their institutions to…

An in-depth article in Modern Healthcare provides a helpful overview and history of health systems’ focus on the role of social determinants. The article details the important work of Healthcare Anchor Network member Kaiser Permanente to engage government agencies, and to leverage its investment funds to address homelessness and promote affordable housing, healthy eating, active…

“Future Baltimore,” an innovative partnership between Healthcare Anchor Network members Kaiser Permanente and Bon Secours, was one of ten national winners of the Secretary’s Award for Public-Philanthropic Partnership, awarded by the US Department of Housing and Urban Development. Future Baltimore has grown to include more than a dozen partners working on nine programs to address…

Trustee Magazine, a publication of the American Hospital Association designed to educate board members of hospitals and health systems,featured the Healthcare Anchor Network, including its history and evolution.

Wellspring Cooperative Greenhouse in Springfield, Massachussetts planted its first crop in 2018, in a 15,000-square foot facility designed to create employee-owned jobs for nearby low-income community residents—the third cooperative in a growing network. The project’s launch was made possible by purchasing commitments from Healthcare Anchor Network members Baystate Health and Trinity Health.

Thanks to an initial $12 million in support from Healthcare Anchor Network member Intermountain Healthcare, a new statewide alliance will be aligning community groups and state, county, and local agencies in a three-year, two-city demonstration project aimed at tackling the underlying social and economic determinants of community health outcomes.

Kaiser Permanente, a member of ​the Healthcare Anchor Network, announced a major impact investing commitment to help address the need for affordable housing, a major social determinant of health. Kaiser Permanente’s $200 million investment will be made in the next two to three years and will focus on developing affordable housing and mitigating homelessness in…

Evergreen Cooperative Laundry (ECL) announced a major expansion today in collaboration with Ohio’s second largest employer, taking over management of the Cleveland Clinic’s laundry facility in Cleveland’s Collinwood neighborhood. The expansion brings more than 100 new employees into the company, joining the 50 workers employed at the original laundry. (The Cleveland Clinic is a member…

In a powerful feature article, Chicago Magazine explores the stark gap in life expectancy between Chicago’s Loop and the neighborhoods of the West Side, and highlights the work of Healthcare Anchor Network member Rush University Medical Center to catalyze a multi-anchor approach to aligning institutional resources to close this “death gap.”

In an inspiring collaboration between a health system and the community it serves, Healthcare Anchor Network member RWJBarnabas Health recently released a full-length documentary on food insecurity and transformative solutions. The film was created by Newark students who were supported in their research and filmmaking by the health system.

A Healthcare Anchor Network member, Boston Medical Center recently announced a $6.5 million package of investments in a range of investments designed to tackle critical community problems. These investments, explicitly framed as upstream interventions in the social determinants of health, will help a variety of community partners provide access to affordable housing, address homelessness, and…

A profile from the Department of Housing and Urban Development highlight’s Healthcare Anchor Network member Dignity Health’s Community Investment Program (CIP), which supports economic development in low income communities served by the health system, and which has made over 140 loans, totaling $200 million—with less than 1 percent losses.

There’s a lot to be excited about with the opening of the Baldwin Hills-Crenshaw Medical Center in West LA—especially the way a partnership with a local community intermediary helped KP use the construction jobs created to advance their “total health” mission as an anchor institution.

Via Health Leaders Media, a look at how Promedica CEO Randy Oostra is driving investments in community development to address the social determinants of health.

From Kaiser Permanente’s Center for Total Health (which has graciously hosted our first two network convenings), a look at how the Healthcare Anchor Network is building a collaborative space to advance the anchor mission.

Via Yes! Magazine, a look at how Bon Secours is working collaboratively to tackle place-based poverty as part of its healthcare anchor mission.