How hospitals improve health equity through community-centered innovation

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 diverse geographic locations and populations. They conducted 30- to 60-minute semi-structured virtual interviews with 11 leaders at 5 hospitals between January and March 2022 and collected additional information through email. Interview questions centered on whether the hospital’s community health equity investments make financial sense, how population health outcomes are measured for community interventions, how specific community programs were initiated, and the lessons other health systems can learn when investing in the community. From these interviews, as well as published reports and data, the authors show the positive impact that community-centered innovation can have for all stakeholders. They then offer specific leadership lessons for other institutions that aim to replicate these successes.