AHA issues guide on creating effective hospital-community partnerships

A new guide from the AHA’s Hospitals in Pursuit of Excellence initiative highlights promising practices for creating effective and sustainable hospital-community partnerships to build a culture of health. “Building a Culture of Health means creating a society that gives all individuals an equal opportunity to live the healthiest life they can, whatever their ethnic, geographic, racial, socioeconomic or physical circumstances may be,” the authors note. Based on interviews with hospital, health system and community leaders from 25 diverse communities, the guide shares lessons learned in: identifying community health needs and reaching consensus on priorities; identifying potential partners; creating sustainable partnership structures; overcoming obstacles; and assessing interventions and partnerships. Developed by the AHA’s Health Research & Educational Trust affiliate with support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the free resource is available at hpoe.org/effectivepartnerships.