How Hospitals Improve Health Equity Through Community-Centered Innovation

Summary

Hospitals that invest in community health equity — reducing and ultimately eliminating disparities in health and the determinants that adversely affect excluded or marginalized groups — can strengthen their financial performance, organizational culture, and reputation. By emphasizing health, not just health care, leaders of these hospitals help achieve a broader good for the community at large. By working with community stakeholders, these hospitals reduce barriers to good health (e.g., poverty, discrimination, inadequate housing, deficient education); welcome the community’s input into hospital operations and programs; and extend the hospital’s expertise, credibility, and financial resources into the community. The authors feature examples from hospital-based health systems that have successfully mitigated health inequities with primarily self-funded community initiatives while serving...