EDITOR’S NOTE

re you truly collaborative? If you spend some time thinking about what it means to collaborate successfully, you know it involves a complex set of skills. Collaboration, at its most basic level, involves working together toward completing a common task or A shared goal. At its highest level, when collaboration succeeds, it leads to worthwhile reform, whether a better process at work, a safer living environment or improved health.

It’s not easy; it is rewarding. The thing is, true collaboration is a challenge. It involves more than motivated people signing on to help out with something because they’re joiners or achievers. Our cover image shows how collaboration involves thinking about who should be at the decision-making table and then changing that table to include the necessary voices that you’re not hearing from. It involves listening and deep thinking about what you’re trying to accomplish. It involves unifying around reaching a shared end result, and knowing enough about the data, the best practices, the funding, the culture and the personalities involved to stay the course. Whew. Not easy, but worth it.

This issue of Health Progress looks at care and community collaborations both inside and outside of health care settings. Some of the articles detail wonderful collaborations you may not have heard much about. Others may be more familiar but delve further into the specific

processes for what has worked or been a stumbling block to true collaboration. There has long been the thinking that competition lies at the heart of improvement in health care. But several of the authors make a case for collaboration, that teams where people bring their individual strengths and talents can build toward a whole BETSY TAYLOR that will make a difference when tackling a problem or working for change. Another lesson from this issue is that good collaboration sometimes requires saying “no.” No, that’s not where our focus should be. No, I don’t think this project uses my particular skills to the best advantage and use of my time. But it leads to the “yes” of where we’re trying to go, and how. Here’s where our priorities are, and here’s why. Here’s the metrics we’re trying to move and how we’re going to get there. Here’s where we need to reach people where we haven’t before, or here’s a service we’re adding to make people’s lives easier. Because all that collaborative work ultimately can lead to new opportunities or improved systems for patients and others we serve. Collaboration can be messy; it can slow things down, but when done well, it can result in real and lasting good.

VICE PRESIDENT, COMMUNICATIONS AND MARKETING BRIAN P. REARDON

EDITOR BETSY TAYLOR btaylor@chausa.org

MANAGING EDITOR CHARLOTTE KELLEY ckelley@chausa.org

GRAPHIC DESIGNER NORMA KLINGSICK

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OPINIONS expressed by authors published in Health Progress do not necessarily reflect those of CHA. CHA assumes no responsibility for opinions or statements expressed by contributors to Health Progress.

2022 AWARDS FOR 2021 COVERAGE

Catholic Press Awards: Magazine of the Year — Professional and Special Interest Magazine, Second Place; Best Special Issue, Second Place; Best Layout of Article/Column, Second and Third Place; Best Color Cover, Honorable Mention; Best Guest Column/Commentary, First Place; Best Regular Column — General Commentary, Second Place; Best Regular Column — Pandemic, Second Place; Best Coverage — Pandemic, Second Place; Best Essay, First and Third Place, Honorable Mention; Best Feature Article, First Place and Honorable Mention; Best Reporting on a Special Age Group, Second Place; Best Writing Analysis, Third Place; Best Writing — In-Depth, Third Place.

Produced in USA. Health Progress ISSN 0882-1577. Fall 2022 (Vol. 103, No. 4).

Copyright © by The Catholic Health Association of the United States. Published quarterly by The Catholic Health Association of the United States, 4455 Woodson Road, St. Louis, MO 63134-3797. Periodicals postage paid at St. Louis, MO, and additional mailing offices. Subscription prices per year: CHA members, free; nonmembers, $29 (domestic and foreign); single copies, $10. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Health Progress, The Catholic Health Association of the United States, 4455 Woodson Road, St. Louis, MO 63134-3797.

Follow CHA:

chausa.org/social EDITORIAL ADVISORY COUNCIL

Trevor Bonat, MA, MS, chief mission integration officer, Ascension Saint Agnes, Baltimore

Sr. Rosemary Donley, SC, PhD, APRN-BC, professor of nursing, Duquesne University, Pittsburgh

Fr. Joseph J. Driscoll, DMin, director of ministry formation and organizational spirituality, Redeemer Health, Meadowbrook, Pennsylvania

Tracy Neary, regional vice president, mission integration, St. Vincent Healthcare, Billings, Montana

Gabriela Robles, MBA, MAHCM, vice president, community partnerships, Providence St. Joseph Health, Irvine, California

Jennifer Stanley, MD, physician formation leader and regional medical director, Ascension St. Vincent, North Vernon, Indiana

Rachelle Reyes Wenger, MPA, system vice president, public policy and advocacy engagement, CommonSpirit Health, Los Angeles

Nathan Ziegler, PhD, system vice president, diversity, leadership and performance excellence, CommonSpirit Health, Chicago

CHA EDITORIAL CONTRIBUTORS

ADVOCACY AND PUBLIC POLICY: Lisa Smith, MPA COMMUNITY BENEFIT: Julie Trocchio, BSN, MS CONTINUUM OF CARE AND AGING SERVICES:

Julie Trocchio, BSN, MS

ETHICS: Nathaniel Blanton Hibner, PhD;

Brian Kane, PhD

FINANCE: Loren Chandler, CPA, MBA, FACHE INTERNATIONAL OUTREACH: Bruce Compton LEADERSHIP AND MINISTRY DEVELOPMENT:

Brian P. Smith, MS, MA, MDiv

LEGAL: Catherine A. Hurley, JD MINISTRY FORMATION: Diarmuid Rooney, MSPsych,

MTS, DSocAdmin

MISSION INTEGRATION: Dennis Gonzales, PhD

THEOLOGY AND SPONSORSHIP: Fr. Charles Bouchard,

OP, STD