Hospital–Community Partnerships: Facilitating Communication for Population Health on Columbus’ South Side

Abstract

Previous studies have focused on the role anchor institutions play in community development. However, less attention has been directed to how hospitals can effectively partner with community-organizations and residents as part of population health efforts. This article examines community views of one initiative developed by a major American children's hospital in partnership with local community organizations. The data for this study come from 35 in-depth interviews with local residents from the neighborhood adjacent to the hospital and two interviews with hospital administrators. Our findings suggest that the contexts in which hospitals and other non-profit corporations operate pose unique challenges to effective communication. In particular, hospitals and community organizations may think differently about the merits and nature of open communication. Especially when acting as anchor institutions working beyond their formal medical expertise, hospitals may struggle to communicate the scope and goals of their non-medical work in the community.

Community Empowerment and Community Partnerships in Nursing Decision-Making

“…In the context of CBIs, partnerships emerge from a continuous relation between an external agent and community members and organizations for the purpose of mobilizing resources and knowledge and promoting community intervention projects. Researchers also identify community partnerships as a process that improves communication between organizations and people inside communities to make collective goals clearer and more commonly understood [23] or to develop new resources for individuals to access and use to solve problems, such as the provision of support to Diabetic Prevention Services in youth [24]. Other researchers include community partnerships within the process of Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR) [25], and consider the trust between a member of a community and external agents that develop research to be the key to a community partnership in CBPR.…”

For-Profit Hospitals Have a Unique Opportunity to Serve as Anchor Institutions in the U.S.

“…An 'anchor institution' is a large institution -typically an educational, health, or other large corporation -that is not only deeply embedded within the economic infrastructure of a community, but also plays a role in improving community life, and in the case of hospitals, community health (8)(9)(10)(11)(12)(13). Beyond job opportunities, anchor institutions invest in the social, economic, and health development of local communities as a signi cant part of their business models (10,13).…”

“…Koh and colleagues describe anchors as institutions that "commit major nancial, human, and intellectual resources to address social challenges, understanding that their future is inextricably linked to the community outside their walls" (10 p. 309). While hospitals in general have been discussed as having the potential to be anchor institutions (10,13), only nonpro ts have been typically described as such (8). The result is that very little literature exists on the public health potential of for-pro t institutions.…”

Urban Hospitals as Anchor Institutions: Frameworks for Medical Sociology

“…This technique may be particularly relevant for hospitals, which are often located in urban neighborhoods, but historically have not emphasized community representation in institutional research or decision making. In fact, community members often perceive hospitals as working against community interests (Franz et al 2018). In response to evidence that clinical care alone is not effective at driving population health improvement and local pressures for hospitals to participate in economic development of neighborhoods, some hospitals have turned to collaborative research methods to address local health needs.…”