Cambridge Health Alliance

Cambridge Health Alliance
Geography
Location	Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States
Organization
Care system	Public
Hospital type	Academic Teaching, Community
Affiliated university	Harvard Medical School
Services
Emergency department	24 hour emergency care at three locations
History
Founded	Cambridge City Hospital -> Cambridge Hospital, Somerville Hospital; Merged 1996; Whidden Memorial Hospital; Merged 2001
Links
Website	http://www.cha.harvard.edu
Lists	Hospitals in the United States

Cambridge Health Alliance (CHA) is a healthcare system in Cambridge, Somerville, and Boston, Massachusetts' metro-north communities and one of the academic teaching hospitals of Harvard Medical School.

As an integrated healthcare network, and one of the Top 100 most integrated health care systems in the nation^[1], Cambridge Health Alliance serves patients at more than 30 clinical locations, including 15 primary care practices and 20 specialty centers. These sites include its three hospital campuses (Cambridge Hospital, Somerville Hospital, and Whidden Hospital) and community sites.

CHA provides a wide range of health services with a special focus on primary care, preventive health, behavioral health, and the needs of diverse communities. It also offers planned care programs for chronic disease and a three-site emergency department with more than 100,000 annual visits. CHA also has an electronic medical record that connects all its care sites.

Locations

CHA includes three main hospital campuses, a network of primary care and specialty practices, the Cambridge Public Health Department, and the Network Health plan. The three CHA hospital campuses are Cambridge Hospital, Somerville Hospital and Whidden Hospital in Everett. Each hospital has a 24-hour emergency department, and a wide variety of medical services.

In addition to the three hospital campuses, CHA has many community locations all serving patients in Cambridge, Somerville, Malden, Chelsea, Revere, Everett and Winthrop. The Alliance also includes a Medicaid HMO (Network Health) to serve Medicaid and Commonwealth Care patients throughout the state of Massachusetts.

History

Cambridge Health Alliance (CHA) was created in 1996 when the city-owned Cambridge Hospital merged with private, nonprofit Somerville Hospital. In 2001, Hallmark Health sold the Whidden Memorial Hospital to Cambridge Health Alliance. All three hospitals were founded around the turn of the last century, with Somerville Hospital being the oldest. Since 2001, CHA has made major investments in all three hospital campuses include new facilities, medical staff, and technology.

Cambridge Health Alliance is affiliated with both of the large vertically integrated systems in Boston, Partners and Caregroup, and together the three organizations jointly fund the Institute for Community Health, which conducts research on effective clinical and community health programs using the expertise of researchers from all three systems.

Residency and Fellowship Training

As the only healthcare organization that is a teaching affiliate of Harvard Medical School, Harvard School of Public Health, Harvard School of Dental Medicine, and the Tufts University School of Medicine, CHA plays a unique role in the training of medical professionals.

• Harvard Internal Medicine Residency Program - a premier academic community based training program with emphasis on primary care in underserved population with the flexibility of subspecialty training at other Harvard-affiliated tertiary care teaching hospitals, and in producing healthcare policy and community leaders. The training site of Harvard Medical School Cambridge Integrated Clerkship for Harvard medical students.
• Combined Training in Internal Medicine and Occupational Medicine - a new combined four-year training program began in 2010, administered by Harvard Medical School and Harvard School of Public Health which allow residents to become board-eligible in both specialties: internal medicine and occupational (preventive) medicine and receive a Masters of Public Health Degree (MPH) at HSPH.
• Family Medicine Residency Program - affiliated with Tufts University School of Medicine. Based in Malden, Massachusetts as one of 14 nation-wide residency curriculum using the new model of residency training called Preparing the Personal Physician for Practice (P4).
• Harvard Psychiatry Residency Program - one of the four Harvard Medical School Adult Psychiatric Residencies, and the department serves as a popular training site for Harvard Medical students.
• CHA also training programs in Podiatric Surgery, Dentistry, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Geriatric Psychiatry, Psychology, Psychotherapy, and Psychosomatic Medicine.

Community Programs

Community health is a major focus of Cambridge Health Alliance. CHA touts a comprehensive approach to health improvement that includes programs to reduce health disparities and promote wellness, public health initiatives aimed at improving the overall health of our communities, and collaborative research projects that address health issues and health policy.

The CEO of Cambridge Health Alliance serves as commissioner of public health for the city of Cambridge. Since the system was created in 1996, it has operated the Cambridge Public Health Department through a contact with the city.

Multicultural Health

Cambridge Health Alliance is a safety net health system and a recognized leader in multicultural health. It works to maintain health care access to a large number of vulnerable and diverse patients through its interpreter services program and many bilingual primary care providers. It also has award-winning linguistic programs like:

- The Haitian Mental Health Team (the 2010 Schwartz Center Compassionate Caregiver of the Year)^[2]

- The Volunteer Health Advisor program (American Hospital Association NOVA Award)^[3].

The organization was also named a leader in Delivering Culturally and Linguistically Competent Patient Care by the American Hospital Association Institute for Diversity^[4]

Research

• Center for Multicultural Mental Health Research
• Division on Addictions
• Division of Social and Community Medicine
• Institute for Community Health

Further Information

• WCVB - Channel 5 Boston, "Harvard Program Focuses On Bedside Manner", WCVB, September 27, 2011

• Bielaszka-DuVernay, Christina, "Taking Public Health Approaches To Care In Massachusetts", Health Affairs, September 2011

• Conaboy, Chelsea, "Connecting underserved patients to preventive care", Boston.com, May 23, 2011

• Nesin, Marjorie, "Cambridge Health wins Harvard Medical School Diversity Award", Boston.com, May 6, 2011

• Shaw, Gienna, "Case Study: The Coordinated ED", Health Leaders Media Breakthroughs, April 29, 2011

• AAMC, "The Academic Researcher: Bringing Science to Health Care Delivery", Association of American Medical Colleges, April 20, 2011

• Daniel, Seth, "Practicing Teamwork – Revere Clinic is All About Collaboration and Communication", Revere Journal, March 3, 2011

• Parker, Brock, "Check online for hospital emergency room wait times", Boston.com, February 18, 2011

• Laidler, John, "Health care focusing on teamwork", Boston.com, December 16, 2010

• Falco, Miriam, "Study: Lack of breastfeeding costs lives, billions of dollars", CNN.com, April 6, 2010

• Fennimore, Jillian, "Federal funds help heal ailing Cambridge Health Alliance", Cambridge Chronicle, March 25, 2009

References

1. ^ [1]
2. ^ [2]
3. ^ [3]
4. ^ [4]

"Rekindling the Flame A Casebook". http://www.ache.org/PUBS/Research/rekindlingcasebook_section1.pdf. Retrieved 2007-08-22. 
"Cambridge Health Alliance". http://ase.tufts.edu/anthropology/faculty/pacini/students/welcome%20project%202004/Julia&Leah's%20website/cambridge_health_alliance.htmf. Retrieved 2007-08-22. 

External links

• CHA website

Coordinates: 42°22′29″N 71°06′17″W / 42.3748°N 71.1048°W / 42.3748; -71.1048