About Us

Mission & Vision

Our Mission

To foster coordination and collaboration within and across sectors on interventions that build and maintain conditions for sustained community health and well-being.

Our Vision

We envision a Greater Philadelphia that promotes well-being for all community members.

Our Values

Our values guide how COACH pursues our mission and vision.

Our Story

Collaborative Opportunities to Advance Community Health (COACH) was formed in 2015 as a structure for hospitals and health systems to collaboratively explore and test novel strategies to address fundamental community health and social needs in Greater Philadelphia. COACH focuses on needs that are identified by community health needs assessments conducted by local non-profit hospitals, as mandated by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Currently, COACH includes 8 health system teams and 17 community partner organizations representing public health agencies, community-based organizations, and insurers.

COACH is sponsored by the Hospital and Healthsystem Association of Pennsylvania, facilitated by the Health Care Improvement Foundation, and supported by health system contributions. Additional support for COACH has been provided by the Dolfinger McMahon Foundation (December 2017- December 2018 and December 2019-December 2020) and the Leo & Peggy Pierce Foundation (October 2018 – October 2020).

Meet Our Team

Kelsey Salazar

Project Manager, Population Health

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LAUREN ECKEL

Project Coordinator

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Rob Shipp

Vice President of Population Health and Clinical Affairs

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FAQs

The full COACH membership meets approximately every two months. COACH also convenes subgroups for regular sessions to support specific activities. For example, the Food Insecurity workgroup currently meets on a monthly basis

COACH participants are expected to establish a core team of representatives to attend COACH meetings and participate in coordinated activities related to our core focal areas of food insecurity and trauma-informed care and practice. Participation in these activities includes intervention planning, implementation, evaluation, and promotion within a participating institution, as well as sharing best practices or lessons learned with fellow COACH participants.  Additionally, participants are encouraged to build partnerships with other COACH participants that further work in our priority focal areas by testing models of coordination, creating system efficiencies, and advancing communication across sectors.

COACH participants select priorities for shared intervention strategies based on needs that emerge from participating hospital and health systems’ Community Health Needs Assessments (CHNAs). Needs are evaluated by a number of criteria, including the severity of the need and the feasibility and potential impact of a collaborative approach. Implementation strategies coordinated through COACH are written into participating hospitals’ CHNA implementation plans.

In 2019, 18 hospitals and health systems serving the Greater Philadelphia population collaborated on a coordinated regional Community Health Needs Assessment for the first time. Key partners included the Philadelphia Department of Public Health, the Health Care Improvement Foundation, the Philadelphia Association of Community Development Organizations, the Chester County Health Department, and the Montgomery County Office of Public Health. Many COACH health system members participated in this effort. Read the full report here.

COACH supports activities to address food insecurity and promote trauma-informed, healing-centered care and practice. Read more about our work in these areas here.

COACH celebrates cross-sector collaboration. COACH participants currently include hospitals and health systems, community-based organizations, public health and government agencies, and insurers in the Greater Philadelphia area. Please fill out this Contact Form if you’re interested  in participating.

Get Involved >

Please fill out this Contact Form if you’re interested in learning more.

Get Involved >

Contributions have been required of all hospital and health system participants. Please fill out this Contact Form for more information.

Get Involved >

Our Partners

Our coalition is actively growing and always looking for new partners! Our current participants include:

  • 8 health system teams: 
    • Abington-Jefferson Health
    • Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia
    • Einstein Healthcare Network
    • Holy Redeemer Health
    • Jefferson Health
    • Penn Medicine
    • Temple University Health System
    • Trinity Health Mid-Atlantic Region
  • 18 partners from public health, community, and insurer sectors:
    • American Heart Association
    • Benefits Data Trust
    • Drexel University Center for Hunger-Free Communities
    •  Coalition Against Hunger
    • Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission
    • Food Connect
    • The Food Trust
    • Farm to Families
    • Greener Partners
    • Health Federation of Philadelphia
    • Health Partners Plans
    • Keystone First
    • Montgomery County Health Department
    • Philabundance
    • Philadelphia Association of Community Development Corporations
    • Philadelphia Department of Public Health
    • Share Food Program
    • United Way of Greater Philadelphia and Southern New Jersey

We’re Happy To Help