Essential Hospitals Institute

Grants and healthcare:the Essential hospital Institute ("Institute") continued to address the significant issues facing public Hospitals, safety net organizations, underserved communities, and related health policy issues of national priority. The Institute's grant-supported research expands institutional knowledge on population health, patient-centered care, delivery system transformation, quality performance and improvement, equity, leadership, and health reform implementation.much of the Institute's grant-funded work was in workforce equity, climate resilience and mitigation and combating structural racism. With funding from the robert wood johnson foundation, the Institute continued to facilitate combating structural racism interest group meetings offering peer networking among like-minded leaders from our members, revised our Essential communities website to reflect tools, resources, and programs to combat structural racism, facilitated a 4-hour pre-conference on combating structural racism at the annual vital conference, participated in an equity learning lab to develop and carry out an action plan to improve equity focusing on our organizational policies, and began the development of a workforce equity toolkit at Essential Hospitals to support the creation of a resilient, inclusive, and equitable workforce.through a grant from the human resources and services agency, george mason university funded the Institute to disseminate gmu interactive trainings and gain insights from member Hospitals about needs relating to workforce and resilience.related to combating structural racism, the cvs health foundation with the Institute conducted a learning collaborative among member Hospitals to reduce black obstetric mortality rates. This two-year project supported a learning collaborative of 12 member Hospitals seeking to reduce mortality among black obstetric patients. A report of the findings was released.the cvs health foundation also funded the Institute to conduct three one-year learning collaboratives among member Hospitals to improve access to quality care for people with opioid use disorder, particularly people who are marginalized or discriminated against. This four-year project supports three learning collaboratives between 10 - 12 member Hospitals seeking to improve care access and enhance patient social support. We started planning for the second learning collaborative and actively accepting applications for the third and final learning collaborative cohort.the Institute also received funds from the bristol-myers squibb foundation to combat racial disparities in diagnosis, treatment, and prognosis for cardiovascular disease through peer-to-peer mentorship between selected member Hospitals and a technical panel of cardiovascular disease experts from Essential hospitals.the kresge foundation funded a follow-on grant to identify resources for member Hospitals related to decarbonization and climate resilience, conduct an interest group on climate resilience and mitigation of climate change, a luncheon at america's Essential Hospitals' annual conference, vital; and a c-suite convening to support the development of action plans and accountability at the c-suite, and to share information about financial support available through the inflation reduction act for climate mitigation and resiliency projects.finally, the Institute was funded by the leon lowenstein foundation to improve access to primary care through mobile van health. The funding included recruiting 5 member Hospitals to participate in an 8-month learning collaborative to navigate the challenges and barriers to mobile van healthcare.

Research:the Institute published six reports, briefs, and blogs in 2023:- Essential hospital innovations to reduce disparities in cardiovascular care, dec 2023- Essential data 2023: our Hospitals, our patients, oct 2023- excellence and innovation in care: the 2023 gage awards, june 2023in addition, the Institute disseminated findings from research at national conferences, including panel and poster presentations.institute staff actively support the dhhs on topics such as patient safety. For example, Institute staff were a member of the special national advisory committee on patient safety appointed by the dhhs secretary.

Leadership development and education:to help safety-net Hospitals and health systems continue their success in serving their communities, the Institute offered an array of educational and member services. These included individual and series-based webinars, conference workshops, and professional development programs. These programs provided forums for members to learn and exchange ideas on how safety-net Hospitals and health systems can address new issues and challenges, strategize on ways to improve social and environmental determinants of health within their communities, while providing vital professional connections and leadership expertise.the fellows program is a 12-month leadership development program designed for rising senior leaders in significant clinical or administrative roles at member Hospitals. The fellows program aims to educate participants on issues that impact Essential Hospitals and provide the necessary skills to lead strategically and advocate for policies and resources that promote the health of vulnerable patients. Each class includes three highly interactive sessions (2.5-4 days), a self-assessment, project, member hospital site visit, distance learning, networking, and attendance at america's Essential Hospitals' conferences and events.the Essential women's leadership academy is a 10-month leadership development program designed to build a community of confident and empowered women executives. The latter lead Essential Hospitals in meeting the challenges of our nation's most vulnerable populations. It includes three highly interactive sessions, a self assessment, executive coaching, monthly check-in calls with their mentor, a site visit to their mentor's organization, and networking. All the mentors are women chief executives at Essential Hospitals.