About Us

A description of SFHIP’s origin and history

San Francisco's nonprofit hospitals, in conjunction with the San Francisco Department of Public Health (SFDPH) and other partners, formed the Building a Healthier San Francisco (BHSF) collaborative in 1994 to conduct a community health needs assessment for San Francisco every three years as required by state and now federal law. BHSF was a citywide collaborative of non-profit hospitals, SFDPH, foundations, health and human service providers, and community-based organizations.

In spring 2008, nonprofit hospital partners and SFDPH complemented the work of BHSF with the creation of the Community Benefit Partnership (CBP). CBP sought to harness the collective energy and resources of San Francisco’s nonprofit hospitals, City/County departments (SFDPH and Human Services), community clinics, health plans, and nonprofit providers and advocacy groups to improve the health status of San Francisco residents to address the health priorities established by BHSF.

SFHIP was officially established in 2010 (SFHIP 1.0) as a cross-sector collaborative between UCSF Clinical and Translational Science Institute’s (CTSI’s) Community Engagement and Health Policy Program, SFDPH, and ethnic-based community health equity coalitions. Their goal was to better align community-engaged translational science and public health practice to improve health equity. The effort was built on the underlying premise that by working together in a coordinated, focused, and well-informed manner, academic and community groups can achieve synergies and foster innovation to achieve substantial gains in community health and health equity. CTSI provided the infrastructure and support for planning and coordination of this phase of SFHIP.

Building on its past community health improvement work with BHSF, SFDPH, in collaboration with nonprofit hospital and academic partners as well as the broader San Francisco community, organized a community health improvement process to create a Community Health Improvement Plan (CHIP) for San Francisco. The CHIP is a required element for SFDPH to become accredited by the national Public Health Accreditation Board

In 2013, SFHIP 1.0 joined with 2 other health improvement groups – Building a Healthier San Francisco and SFDPH CHIP group – to create SFHIP 2.0. CHIP became the population health strategic plan and serves as a road map for guiding SFHIP priorities and collective interventions to improve community health in San Francisco. The San Francisco Hospital Council and SFDPH joined the UCSF CTSI as backbone organizations for SFHIP.