Building effective health system-community partnerships: Lessons from the field

Health care organizations are increasingly seeking to meaningfully partner with community members to better address community needs and priorities, especially for patients with complex health and social needs. As health care entities prioritize strategies to address health disparities and advance health equity, it is particularly important to acknowledge the critical perspectives that patients and their families can bring to inform program and policy design. It can, however, be challenging to obtain and incorporate community voices in a sustainable and authentic manner.

This brief shares considerations for health care organizations and government entities seeking to build effective partnerships with the individuals and communities they serve to better address their health and social needs. It draws from the experiences of two sites — Hennepin Healthcare in Minneapolis and the Los Angeles Department of Health Services Whole Person Care Program — that participated in the Community Partnership Pilot, a Center for Health Care Strategies initiative made possible by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.