Introducing a Measure of Hospital Community Orientation

Area of Science:

• Health Services Research
• Public Health Policy
• Hospital Administration

Background:

• Policymakers aim to enhance hospital involvement in community health improvement.
• Expanded community benefit (CB) regulations require nonprofit hospitals (NPHs) to address prioritized local health issues.
• Fostering collaboration between hospitals and community stakeholders can lead to more integrated approaches to local health challenges.

Purpose of the Study:

• To establish a composite measure of hospital community orientation.
• To define hospital community orientation as the utilization of community resources and knowledge in CB work.
• To assess the impact of expanded CB regulations on hospital-community engagement.

Main Methods:

• Data collected from 125 randomly selected NPHs over three reporting periods.
• Development of a composite measure for hospital community orientation.
• Confirmatory factor analysis used to validate the community orientation model.

Main Results:

• A single-factor model was assessed for its approximation of community orientation.
• The study provides a quantifiable metric for hospital community engagement.
• Data reflects hospital strategies in community benefit work.

Conclusions:

• Hospital community orientation measurement is a valuable tool for assessing CB regulation effectiveness.
• This metric can track NPHs' interactions with communities over time.
• The findings support the use of this measure to understand hospital roles in community health.