Community Collaboration for Solutions
Advancing health equity and fostering healthy communities by investing in strong hospital-community partnerships.
The Community Collaboration for Solutions Lever Includes:
Understanding Your Community
How might your hospital better understand the patient population and community served?
How might your hospital better understand the patient population and community served?
Our Definition:
Hospital uses different data collection methodologies to understand their patient population and community served and develop improvement strategic plans.
Where on the continuum is your organization?
Exploring the values and resources needed to publicly commit to embarking upon a journey to achieve health equity.
Hospital routinely collects demographic information on the community it serves. Hospital engages community input to assess community assets and needs (e.g., CHNA), identify care delivery priorities. Hospital shares accurate, timely, relevant and clear information about decisions regarding policies, programs, services or issues with community partners.
Example
Hospital uses collected data to assess community assets and needs (e.g., CHNA, listening tours or surveys), and identify care delivery priorities.
Committing the resources to listen, learn, train and implement policies and practices that establish equity as standard practice.
Hospital and community partner implements community interventions based on data and care delivery priorities.
Example
A Playbook for Fostering Hospital-Community Partnerships to Build a Culture of Health features actionable strategies and tools for hospitals, health systems and community organizations and agencies.
Immersing the leadership and system into accountability for policies, procedures and cultural structures that support diversity, equity and inclusion.
Hospital leadership actively supports policy and practices for community engagement as a standard practice for hospital operations.
Example
Hospital and community leaders meet on a regular basis to ensure shared goals and objectives to advance DEI strategies are implemented in ways that are mutually beneficial.
Affirming an equitable system culture with continuous equity self-assessments of policies and practices that remove structural barriers to equity.
Hospital and community members collaboratively and routinely assesses data collection and program policies and practices. Hospital develop plans for any additional partnerships based on data and community input.
Example
Before launching new initiatives or interventions in the community, hospital leaders actively seek out the input of community stakeholders via focus groups and the like to inform next steps.
Transforming beyond the system toward supporting a sustainable and equitable ecosystem of health care within the community.
Hospital shares data across organizations to leverage community assets and meet community needs. People impacted by programming are directly engaged as key partners in strategic planning and decision-making as it relates to community engagement.
Example
Examples of cross-sector partners include citywide and local organizations, ex-officio representatives such as the local health department, city colleges, and Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) in the governance structure to bring their perspectives to the strategy.
Strengthening Community Partnerships
How might you strengthen your community partnerships to co-design solutions?
How might you strengthen your community partnerships to co-design solutions?
Our Definition:
Hospital implements community engagement and partnership plans. Organization conducts continuous self-assessment of policies and practices that support community engagement and partnerships.
Where on the continuum is your organization?
Exploring the values and resources needed to publicly commit to embarking upon a journey to achieve health equity.
Hospital plans to identify and assess current partnerships for areas of enhancement (e.g., assessing diversity of partnerships).
Example
Hospital uses a framework such as the IAP2’s Spectrum of Public Participation to assess the level of engagement in the partnership.
Committing the resources to listen, learn, train and implement policies and practices that establish equity as standard practice.
Hospital has community partnerships in place and co-develops clear roles and common goals, coordinates on improvement planning and regularly shares program updates and results.
Example
Hospital leaders are considerate of power imbalances when establishing partnerships and mitigate around that potential challenge.
Immersing the leadership and system into accountability for policies, procedures and cultural structures that support diversity, equity and inclusion.
Hospital and community partners collaborate on project management (e.g., identifying and analyzing issues and solutions, planning evaluation of action plans and identifying measures for success). Hospital and community partners assess power imbalances in the partnership and plan for ways to redress. Hospital and community partners establish more formal partnerships (e.g., MOUs or consortium memberships).
Example
Hospital and community-based organizations formalize relations through a memorandum of understanding or consortium memberships.
Affirming an equitable system culture with continuous equity self-assessments of policies and practices that remove structural barriers to equity.
Hospital and community partners collaborate to implement action plans and interventions. Hospital and community partners develop capacity to equitably share power to best support all involved. Hospital dedicates resources and time to routinely establish, maintain and evaluate partnerships.
Example
Hospital is paying directly or paying in kind to sustain partnerships or collaborative.
Transforming beyond the system toward supporting a sustainable and equitable ecosystem of health care within the community.
Hospital has diverse partnerships (e.g., cross-sector organizations). Hospital and community partners participate in collaborative leadership, innovation, evaluation and sustainability.
Example
Community members impacted by programming are encouraged to serve as key partners in strategic planning and decision-making, as it relates to community engagement.
Investing in Your Community
How might hospitals leverage their financial resources to lift up communities?
How might hospitals leverage their financial resources to lift up communities?
Our Definition:
Hospitals have community investment strategies that produce positive social, economic or environmental impacts within their service areas.
Where on the continuum is your organization?
Exploring the values and resources needed to publicly commit to embarking upon a journey to achieve health equity.
Hospital plans to create place-based investing strategies.
Example
Hospital identifies place-based investment opportunities across asset classes.
Committing the resources to listen, learn, train and implement policies and practices that establish equity as standard practice.
Hospital has place-based investment strategies or programs in place, informed by key stakeholders.
Example
Hospital participates in community investment in food security, housing and other social needs.
Immersing the leadership and system into accountability for policies, procedures and cultural structures that support diversity, equity and inclusion.
Hospital employs anchor strategies and policies such as paying competitive wages aligned with local cost of living and purchasing from local businesses. Hospital makes direct financial investments in local, minority-owned and women-owned businesses, as well as other business ventures in the community that embody diverse characteristics.
Example
Hospital works with Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs), which provide loans and other financial resources to communities.
Affirming an equitable system culture with continuous equity self-assessments of policies and practices that remove structural barriers to equity.
Hospital routinely reviews, monitors and evaluates place-based investment strategies. Hospital invests its financial resources in community organizations dedicated to improving social determinants of health, by working with existing community partners to advance equity.
Example
Hospital designates a percentage of investible assets within investment portfolio for place-based investments.
Transforming beyond the system toward supporting a sustainable and equitable ecosystem of health care within the community.
Hospital works toward addressing structural equity issues/societal factors by being an active participant in policy networks, think tanks, research initiatives and cross-sector areas. Hospital commits to financially supporting private equity funds or community development venture capital funds that support the hospital’s service areas.
Example
Hospital allocates some percentage of its investments to target health equity solutions. At the same time, the hospital identifies outlets to share stories and amplify messages around the importance of investing in non-medical needs of patients to encourage others (peer organizations) to do likewise.
