Serving our community
Advocate Health Care was founded more than 100 years ago by members of local faith communities. Our founders made a commitment to their communities to provide much needed health care services to underserved areas. As part of Advocate Health, the third-largest nonprofit integrated health system in the U.S., Advocate Health Care continues this tradition today with a commitment to meet the health needs of the individuals, families and communities we are privileged to serve.
Community health needs assessment
Addressing the health needs of our communities is a priority for us. All Advocate Health hospitals participate in community health needs assessments and health improvement planning within a collaborative framework guided by a belief that complex community needs are best impacted through a collective impact model. Each Advocate Health hospital conducts a comprehensive community health needs assessment (CHNA) and develops a community health improvement plan (CHIP) every three years. In our Illinois hospitals, this important work is overseen by a Community Health Council comprising both community and hospital leaders.
We invite you to learn more about our CHNA process, the needs specific to each community we serve and plans for addressing those needs by reading the hospitals’ CHNA reports and CHIPs. By reading these documents, you can better understand our organization’s commitment to serving our communities and perhaps see an opportunity to partner with us in addressing needs in your community.
Community benefits
Advocate Health is one of the largest providers of community health care, outreach and education in Illinois. In 2022, Advocate Health’s Illinois entities (Advocate Health Care) contributed $791,618,000 million in charitable care and services to the communities we serve. Each year, we demonstrate our social accountability by reporting these costs in a Community Benefits Plan Report to the Illinois Attorney General’s office. This report contains our cost report in specific community benefits categories determined by the 2003 Illinois Community Benefits Act, as well as a Community Benefits Plan Update outlining our community strategy and describing the numerous programs provided to the community.
Read our Total Community Benefits Contribution Cost Report
Read our Community Benefits Plan Update
Local services guide
We’re committed to helping people live well. That starts with meeting basic needs such as food, safe housing, child care and transportation. It’s easy to find free and low-cost options for these local services and more in our online services guide.