Overview of the History of Catholic Health Initiatives

1995 – As the 21st century approached, sponsors of Catholic health ministries realized that the evolving health care environment would require a radical change in organizational structures to ensure resources to nurture programs and services.  In early 1995, a group of Catholic health care leaders began to explore ways to strengthen the health ministry for the future.  They envisioned a national Catholic health ministry, sponsored and governed by an equal religious-lay partnership, which would live out its mission by transforming health care delivery and creating new ministries to promote healthy communities.

April 1995 – Three national Catholic health care systems that represented 10 religious congregations – Catholic Health Corporation of Omaha, Nebraska; Franciscan Health System of Aston, Pennsylvania; and Sisters of Charity Health Care Systems of Cincinnati, Ohio – signed a letter of intent to pursue consolidation.  The new organization would include 61 hospitals and 50 long-term care facilities in 20 states, with combined revenues of more than $4 billion.  A Steering Council, task forces and sponsorship committees laid the groundwork for the consolidation.

July 1995 – The Steering Council determined five goals for the new organization:

• Research and development of new ministries
• Leadership development
• Development of the concept of healthy communities
• Advocacy
• General oversight of business and activities

August 1995 – Organizers named the new organization Catholic Health Initiatives and approved a mission statement.

January 1996 – The first Board of Stewardship Trustees formed.  The Board consists of six lay persons and six members of religious institutes, including three members of congregations that merged their health ministries to form Catholic Health Initiatives.  Patricia A. Cahill, Esq., was named the first president and chief executive officer.

May 1996 – Leaders from each system signed the documents that officially united Catholic Health Corporation, Franciscan Health System and Sisters of Charity Health Care Systems as Catholic Health Initiatives.

July 1996 – Catholic Health Initiatives began operation on July 1.

May 1997 – The Mission and Ministry Fund of Catholic Health Initiatives awarded its first grants, totaling more than $1.8 million, to 18 programs designed to build healthy communities.

September 1997 – The Sisters of Charity of Nazareth Health System, Nazareth, Kentucky, consolidated with Catholic Health Initiatives, adding nine acute care facilities in three states to the system.

November 1997 – The Board of Stewardship Trustees approved Standards of Conduct for Catholic Health Initiatives as part of the organization’s commitment to the highest standards of business ethics and integrity.

March 1998 – The Sisters of St. Francis of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, Hankinson, North Dakota, transferred sponsorship of a hospital and eight clinics in North Dakota to Catholic Health Initiatives.

May 1998 – Catholic Health Initiatives introduced its core values – Reverence, Integrity, Compassion and Excellence – at its first National Leadership Conference.  The organization also unveiled a new operating model in which market-based organizations – the basic service units of Catholic Health Initiatives which provide direct health care services within their markets – are supported directly by all components of the national organization, eliminating six regional structures.

October 1998 – The Board of Stewardship Trustees adopted a Social Responsibility Investment Policy to steward Catholic Health Initiatives’ financial resources in a manner consistent with its mission, vision and core values.  The policy established Catholic Health Initiatives’ Direct Community Investment Program, which provides low- or no-interest loans to organizations that serve disadvantaged populations; social screens for investment activity; and shareholder activism as a means of improving social justice.

May 1999 – Members of Catholic Health Care Federation, which is the Public Juridic Person of Catholic Health Initiatives, traveled to Rome to meet with representatives of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and for Societies of Apostolic Life.

September 1999 – Catholic Health Initiatives made operating performance improvement, realigned its operating structure and instituted a performance management program to support market-based organizations for operational improvement.

September 1999 – Catholic Health Initiatives announced the first three investments of its Direct Community Investment Program, totaling $1.8 million.  These investments went to organizations that promote access to jobs, housing, education or health care for disadvantaged populations.

Fall 1999 – Along with seven other Catholic organizations, Catholic Health Initiatives joined the Catholic Consortium for International Health Services, a group that works to maximize the resources available for international mission work.

June 2000 – Catholic Health Initiatives achieved a positive financial turn of more than $150 million from fiscal year 1999 to fiscal year 2000.

September 2000 – The Mission and Ministry Fund awarded its first 13 Building Healthy Communities Planning Grants, designed to support comprehensive initiatives to improve the health of a community.  The 13 grants totaled nearly $700,000.

April 2001 – Catholic Health Initiatives received the 2001 National Quality Health Care Award from the National Committee for Quality Health Care and Modern Healthcare magazine.  Catholic Health Initiatives was the first national health care system to win the award.

June 2001 – During its first five years, Catholic Health Initiatives presented 102 grants through its Mission and Ministry Fund, with more than $9 million distributed or allocated.

July 2001 – Catholic Health Initiatives celebrated its fifth anniversary.

July 2002 – Catholic Health Initiatives became one of the first national health care systems to join IMPACT, a network of health organizations created by the Institute for Healthcare Improvement to strengthen the quality of health care delivery.

July 2003 – The Board of Stewardship Trustees created the Patricia A. Cahill Leadership Initiative, named in honor of the organization’s first president and chief executive officer.  The initiative provides grants to Catholic Health Initiatives’ leaders to enable them to take time away from their jobs to pursue educational study, research and writing opportunities or community service ventures.

August 2003 – Kevin E. Lofton, FACHE, Catholic Health Initiatives’ executive vice president and chief operating officer, was named the second president and chief executive officer of Catholic Health Initiatives upon the retirement of Patricia A. Cahill.  Esther Anderson, OSF, PhD, was elected the second chair of the Board of Stewardship Trustees after Maryanna Coyle, SC, completed two terms as board chair.

October 2003 – “Thinking Forward: Six Strategies for Highly Successful Organizations,” a book published by the Health Administration Press of the American College of Healthcare Executives, detailed best practices six Catholic Health Initiatives market-based organizations.

June 2004 – The Board of Stewardship Trustees approved an update to Catholic Health Initiatives’ strategic plan for 2005-2009, including the new core strategy of Information.  The plan affirmed the following core strategies:

• People: Catholic Health Initiatives’ distinctive culture will create the work community of choice in every market it serves.
• Information: Catholic Health Initiatives will be the trusted health information partner in the communities it serves.
• Quality: Catholic Health Initiatives will be a recognized leader in clinical quality, safety and customer loyalty.
• Performance: Catholic Health Initiatives will be a recognized leader among health care systems for its operating and financial excellence.
• Growth: Catholic Health Initiatives will extend the scope and influence of the Catholic health ministry through growth, development, advocacy and continued transformation.

July 2004 -- The Mission and Ministry Fund of Catholic Health Initiatives awarded 19 grants totalling more than $2.5 million to improve and sustain the health of local communities in 10 states.  This brought the total number of grants awarded by the Mission and Ministry Fund to 149, amounting to $18 million, since 1997.

November 2004 – The My Voice, My Vote campaign created by Catholic Health Initiatives encouraged employees, board members, physicians, volunteers  and others to learn about candidates and issues and vote in political elections. 

March 2005 – Catholic Health Initiatives adopted the objectives of the 100,000 Lives Campaign created by the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, including the avoidance of 100,000 preventable patient deaths from December 2004 to June 2006 through hospital implementation of six proven interventions.

September 2005 – Catholic Health Initiatives won the 2005 Top Company Award in the health care category from Colorado Biz magazine.  The award recognized Catholic Health Initiatives as an organization whose financial and operational excellence and commitment to the community set the standard for business.

October 2005 – Catholic Health Initiatives received the 2005 International Spirit at Work Award for promotion of workplace spirituality.  Among other attributes, the award recognized the grassroots process Catholic Health Initiatives used to establish its core values.

December 2005 – Kevin Lofton introduced three key themes that enabled the system to strengthen its focus on its vision of transforming health care delivery and promoting healthy communities:

1. Invest in Leaders to Develop Leaders
2. Create the Safest Environment by Reducing Avoidable Complications
3. Build the System Together

March 2006 – The Mission and Ministry Fund achieved the goal of establishing a $100 million principal, built through annual contributions from Catholic Health Initiatives’ market-based organizations.  In its first ten years, the fund presented 188 grants totaling approximately $24 million for the building of healthy communities.

May 2006 – Employees and guests gathered to celebrate the tenth anniversary of Catholic Health Initiatives through coordinated prayer services at locations throughout the system.  Through candle lightings, reading, prayer and song, they honored those who created Catholic Health Initiatives; those who contributed to its first ten years; and those who continue to advance the health ministry.

June 2006 – Through the implementation of rapid response teams, strategic staffing and evidence-based practices, Catholic Health Initiatives’ facilities reduced mortality 6.25 percent during fiscal year 2006, the equivalent of 450 lives saved.

July 2006 – Elizabeth Wendeln, SCN, became chair of the Board of Stewardship Trustees.

September 2006 – The Board of Stewardship Trustees approved an update to Catholic Health Initiatives’ strategic plan that provided greater organizational focus and affirmed four core strategies: People, Quality, Stewardship and Growth.

October 2006 – Catholic Health Initiatives received the inaugural Outstanding Organization of the Year Award from the National Association of Health Services Executives.

December 2006 – Catholic Health Initiatives’ Price Transparency Work Group launched a pilot project to make meaningful information about the price of hospital care available to consumers.

January 2007 – Kevin Lofton, president and chief executive officer of Catholic Health Initiatives, became chair of the Board of Trustees of the American Hospital Association.  

April 2007– Saint Clare’s Health System, a four-hospital system that is the largest community health system in northwest New Jersey, entered an agreement to join Catholic Health Initiatives.

July 2007 – A new group structure and new reporting relationships realigned the infrastructure and resources that support Catholic Health Initiatives’ market-based organizations, community health service organizations and joint operating agreements to better serve and support their needs.

September 2007 – Catholic Health Initiatives embarked on a systemwide research and development effort, designed to identify and evaluate new ways to drive innovation and advance health care delivery throughout the healing ministry.

January 2008 – Phyllis Hughes, RSM, DrPH, was elected chair of the Board of Stewardship Trustees to fill the vacancy left by the resignation of Mary Wakefield.

March 2008 – Catholic Health Initiatives’ mission of building healthy communities was reaffirmed by its launch of a national violence prevention campaign, which will include millions of dollars in grants to help eliminate violence.

Revised April, 2008