Cambridge Health Alliance - Health Alliance

Cambridge Health Alliance (CHA) is a healthcare provider in Cambridge, Somerville and Boston’s metro-north communities in Massachusetts. CHA advertises services including primary care, specialty care and mental health/substance use services. It includes three hospital campuses, primary care and specialty practice facilities, and the Cambridge Public Health Dept. CHA maintains an affiliation with Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston. CHA is a Harvard Medical School teaching affiliate and is also affiliated with Harvard School of Public Health, Harvard School of Dental Medicine and Tufts University School of Medicine.

Locations

CHA includes three main hospital campuses, primary care and specialty practices, and the Cambridge Public Health Department. The three CHA hospital campuses are Cambridge Hospital, Somerville Hospital, and Everett Hospital.

In addition to the three hospital campuses, CHA has locations in Cambridge, Somerville, Malden, Revere, and Everett.

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 Hospital to Cambridge Health Alliance. In 2016, the name of Whidden Hospital was changed to CHA Everett Hospital. All three hospitals were founded around the turn of the 20th century, with Somerville Hospital being the oldest.

In 2013 Cambridge Health Alliance became affiliated with Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. In 2014 its physicians joined BIDCO the Beth Israel Deaconess Care Organization.

Community Programs

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 contract with the city.

CHA is an affiliate of the Massachusetts General Hospital for Children.

Research

• Health Equity Research Lab
• Division on Addictions
• Institute for Community Health

As an Employer

CHA employs approximately 3,500 staff members in Cambridge, Everett, Malden, Medford, Revere, and Somerville, Massachusetts. 65% of CHA's staff are unionized. As of 2013, more than 40% of CHA staff (1,600+) live within the area of Cambridge, Chelsea, Everett, Malden, Medford, Revere, Somerville, and Winthrop.

Financial Troubles

For its 2017 fiscal year, the organization is expected to improve its operations and projects a surplus of $500,000 for the year. However, due to the struggling organization's reliance on state and government support and a recent de-emphasis on growth, this surplus came at the cost of layoffs and voluntary resignations in 2016. Further complicating their fiscal outlook was the vetoing of a bill by the state governor in July 2016 which would have provided much needed financial support during this time of decreased patient volume.

As of April 11, 2014, the organization has posted a loss of $21.5 million for fiscal year 2013. This is in contrast to their projected loss of $19 million for 2013.

Previously, the system was noted to have lost $28.5 million on health care operations based on the financial report released for their fiscal year of 2012, and had a reported loss of $36.9 million in 2011. It was also penalized in 2012 for failing to meet quality and patient satisfaction standards set by the federal government, and for having too many Medicare patient readmissions within 30 days of being discharged. When asked about the 2012 report, the Chief Financial Officer at the time Gordon Boudrow was quoted as saying, “Our weakness is driven from serving a high proportion of low-income and uninsured patients for which reimbursements are poor.”

Further Information

• Reinert, Sue, "Cambridge Health Alliance, born to serve poor, struggles to stay healthy itself", Cambridge Day, January 8, 2013
• 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 â€" 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

"Rekindling the Flame A Casebook" (PDF). Retrieved 2007-08-22. 
"Cambridge Health Alliance". Retrieved 2007-08-22.