Good health doesn’t just happen.
Catholic and other nonprofit health care organizations respond to the unique needs of their communities, striving to improve health and well-being for all. From saving lives to maintaining services, including their role as anchor institutions in communities, nonprofit hospitals care for and make investments beyond their primary charitable purpose and reported community benefit activities to improve the health and well-being of the people living in their communities.
The Catholic Health Association is pleased to share stories of how Catholic healthcare’s mission to care and commitment to their communities, so all may flourish.
Improving the Health of our Communities
Recommended Resources
Share Your Ministry's Story
Do you have an initiative or program you'd like to showcase? CHA is actively seeking community benefit and health improvement stories to feature as examples of community health improvement. These stories may be featured in our advocacy initiatives, web content, and potentially in articles for Catholic Health World and Health Progress.
CHA Articles
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October 2026Mobile athletic training rooms provide free X-rays, athletic training and medical care at high school football games and community events. -
October 2026Initiative supported by Catholic Charities, health systems shows power of housing as healthcare
Study finds partnerships led to improved health outcomes, nearly $5 million in community health savings and permanent housing for 792 people. -
September 2026'A special collaboration': Mercy Health hospital and partners take on diabetes in rural county
Their joint effort has created a successful and sustainable model for offering patient-centered support for people coping with diabetes. -
July 2026SSM Health’s St. Louis foundation uses $10 million donation to establish the Community Health Impact Fund
The fund will support community organizations to address the social determinants of health. -
May 2026In Virginia, Bon Secours Richmond helps boost city's East End with economic development grants for small businesses
Since 2011, more than 60 small enterprises have received more than $1.2 million in total, as well as other support. -
April 2026Southwest Oregon students create public service announcements to build awareness of key threats to youth
CHI Mercy Health's foundation annually hosts a filmmaking project to help prevent violence and other threats. -
Fall 2026Community Benefit — From Strategy to Measurement: Why Alignment Matters in Community Health
At healthcare executive meetings, leaders routinely review infection rates, readmissions, net patient service revenue and case mix index. Some are routine operational measures; others function as key performance indicators (KPIs), a term healthcare adopted from the business world. -
Summer 2026
Community Benefit — Knowing More Means Doing Better: Data, Technology and the Future of Community Health Improvement
When the Affordable Care Act codified community health needs assessments (CHNAs), most nonprofit hospitals were working from a relatively thin deck of data cards: census, state vital statistics and a community survey, if the budget allowed. The picture of a community’s health was impressionistic at best — a few broad strokes applied every three years and quickly dated. -
Spring 2026
Community Benefit — Why the IRS Community Benefit Standard for Tax-Exempt Hospitals Has Endured
Over the past several years, tax-exempt hospitals have faced increasing scrutiny over the level of community benefit they provide. Watchdog groups, researchers, members of Congress and other critics have called for laws requiring hospitals to provide a minimum threshold of community benefit to qualify for tax-exempt status. -
Winter 2026Community Benefit — How Community Benefit Serves as a Living Expression of Catholic Health's Mission and Commitment
While many in Catholic health care are familiar with our Catholic social teaching and the ways it is embedded in the care that we provide, these Catholic social teachings are also the central tenets of our community benefit programs and activities. -
Fall 2025
Community Benefit - What's the Point of Doing a Needs Assessment and Improvement Plan if They Don't Lead to Real Change?
Community health needs assessments (CHNAs) and community health improvement plans (often known as CHIPs or implementation strategies — same thing!) represent major investments, not just in time and resources, but in the potential for meaningful change. -
Summer 2025
Community Benefit — Nonprofit Hospital Community Benefit: What Counts and Why It Matters
There is only one definition of community benefit: it is the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) definition. Other organizations, researchers and lobbyists, at times, will add or subtract categories to the way they define community benefit...
Responding to the Needs of Our Communities
Memory Care Unit
Utilizing Montessori methods and an interactive philosophy, Covenant Health's Mary Immaculate Memory Care Unit provides an engaging, dignifying experience for its residents and staff.
Grocery Shuttle
To promote access to fresh produce and groceries, St. Alphonsus Medical Center operates a Grocery Shuttle on Saturdays for transportation-compromised individuals in Canyon County, Idaho.
Mobile HealthClinic
St. Alphonsus opens a free mobile health clinic to address the needs of disenfranchised patients in Canyon County, Idaho.
Men's Health & Education
SSM Health partners with the RLWA Men’s Health & Education Center, an innovative health model aimed at reducing health disparities and improving social conditions of health for Black men in Dane County, Wisconsin.
SPARK Program
Anoop Takher, D.O., M.J., Medical Director of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at Saint Anthony Hospital, and David Walker, LCSW, Sr. Director of Mental Health at the Carole Robertson Center, discuss their organizations' partnership through the SPARK Program, which has cut wait times for children in Southwest Chicago needing this essential care.
Dell Children's Environmental
Dell Children’s Medical Center of Central Texas runs an environmental sustainability program and becomes the first hospital in the world to earn LEED for Healthcare’s Platinum Designation.