The Health Care Anchor Model

This episode features a conversation between Wylie Liu, MPH, MPA, Executive Director of the Center for Community Engagement at the University of California, San Francisco, and Darlene Oliver Hightower, JD, Vice President, Community Health Equity at Rush University Medical Center. This is the second in a series of six Coffee & Science events on topics related to Alignment and Advocacy, which are the last two “A”s of the National Academy of Medicine’s framework that SIREN’s used to organize Coffee & Science. Alignment and Advocacy are both about what health care can do at the community level to address social conditions. This conversation explores the pillars of Rush’s healthcare anchor institution model and its health equity work.

Recommended references:

• Healthcare Anchor Network Case Study. Rush University Medical Center (RUMC): Collaborating with community stakeholders to improve economic vitality and health. 2021.
• Ubhayakar S et al. Anchor Mission Playbook. Rush University Medical Center and The Democracy Collaborative. 2019.
• Healthcare Anchor Network. Anchor Mission Communications Toolkit. Rush University Medical Center and The Democracy Collaborative. 2020.
• Ansell DA et al. Health Equity as a System Strategy: The Rush University Medical Center Framework. NEJM Catalyst Innovations in Care Delivery. 2021.
• Kanter RM. West Side United: Hospitals Tackle the Racial Health and Wealth Gap. Harvard Business School Case 321-026. 2020.
• Rhee N. “A Second City”. Chicago Magazine. 2018.