A Population Health Approach for Community Health Improvement

Providence Health & Services (Providence), a not-for-profit Catholic health care system serving five western states, established an organizational vision of Creating healthier communities, together (Providence Health & Services, 2014). This vision served as the catalyst for the alignment of divisional initiatives to positively impact community health status. To effectively achieve its vision, the organization committed to the incorporation of population health principles in the development of an infrastructure to expand the reach and impact of community investments, along with the establishment of effective processes for inter-divisional collaboration and compliance with community benefit mandates. Thus, in 2015, Providence established a community investment governance structure and strategic framework, standardized community assessments and health improvement planning, centralized data collection and storage, and, standardized reporting guidelines. As a result, functions that had been decentralized across 34 hospitals were reorganized in a manner that brought local efficiencies with minimal organizational disruption. Furthermore, the governance structure served as a venue for the transformation of community benefit functions that have been reactive to the needs of the community into one that is proactive in working in partnership with community leaders to increase the community’s capacity for health