Hospital C

History of Hospital C

Hospital C is a for-profit, large institution (400+ beds) providing acute care, general services to the Southwest region. This hospital is part of one of the top five largest publicly traded hospital networks in the US. The company owns between 50-100 hospitals concentrated in urban and suburban settings, as well as over 500 ambulatory health care facilities. Locations are scattered across the US from coast to coast.

This hospital is part of a group of hospitals in the city united under a common brand. Founded over 100 years ago by doctors, Hospital C was the city’s first non-denominational hospital, then was family-run for half a century. Citizens used private and public funds to open the hospital in a new building under a corporate charter. The group established additional hospitals in the city over the next half a century. The hospital collective was sold to the current network in the 2010s.

Hospital C serves an urban population. The hospital is in a metropolitan area with between 500,000 and 1.5 million residents. The population is lower-middle class with low educational attainment. Between 70 and 80% is of Hispanic/Latino ethnicity. The average citizen is in their early 30s, less likely than the national average to be a homeowner and has an average household income of between $30,000-$50,000. The percentage of foreign-born persons in the population is nearly double that of the US average.

Hospital C as an Anchor Institution

Hospital C-in conjunction with the other campuses in its group-is the city’s largest private employer and healthcare organization. As part of a group of hospitals, departments coordinate and emphasize participation by all the hospitals in donating funds or volunteerism to community activities. Sometimes leadership frames participation as friendly competition amongst campuses. Marketing and communications staff collaborate on handling community outreach and engagement. In addition to supporting healthcare-related activities, these departments seek out non-healthcare related anchor-like activities as an opportunity to engage with different segments of the population with which the hospital might not otherwise connect. In one way or another, the hospital’s group supports 50-75 non-profit organizations, social service agencies, and government institutions yearly. Leadership at the system level conducts an annual self-report of employees involved in community benefits activities and with which organizations. Leadership can reference this report when deciding which employees have a background best suited to collaborate with local organizations. Hospital personnel reacted positively to the idea of sharing information about their community benefits activity with peer institutions but warned that a hospital’s willingness to participate is likely influenced by the hospital’s level of community benefits activity.

Anchor Areas:

Funding

• Hospitals sponsor local food bank drives and a music festival.
• Hospitals partner with YWCA, domestic abuse shelter, and a movie festival.

Community Stability

• Largest private employer in the city with +5000 employees.
• Employees work in the medical fields, technology, STEM, food services.

Health Promotion

• Physicians lead community health education seminars.
• Hospitals provide free screenings and diagnostic services.

Community Building

• Physicians give presentations to local school staff on women’s health.
• Hospitals hold STEM programs at local schools about medical technology.
• Hospitals host high school students in a year-long program to learn about medical career paths.
• Hospitals host students from high school healthcare magnet programs.
• Participate in career fairs.
• Hospitals host programs for students with disabilities to learn trades leading to employment at the hospital.
• Hospital leadership centralized Covid-19 response in private schools.