Mission + History + Values
Our Mission
To improve personal, community and public health through innovative collaboration.
AllianceChicago’s efforts are focused in three core areas:
Health Care Collaboration
Engaging and supporting a network of community health centers, healthcare providers and patients throughout the country to optimize quality, efficiency, experience and outcomes
Health Information Technology
Empowering our partners to deliver high-quality care that addresses the priorities, interests and diversity of the underserved populations in their communities using our extensive data infrastructure and thoughtful use of leading-edge health information technology
Health Research & Education
Leveraging our technology infrastructure and collaborations to engage community health centers in research and education that directly benefit the patients, care teams, and communities in our network, with the goal of promoting health equity
Our History
Recognizing that they could better advance their aligned missions through collaboration rather than competition, the leadership of Erie Family Health Centers, Heartland Alliance Health, Howard Brown Health and Near North Health came together to explore ways to share resources in support of their common missions.
From the beginning, the four founding members embraced the Health Resources and Services Administration concept of the Health Center Controlled Network. This structure allows them the autonomy to respond to their respective communities, while leveraging common infrastructure to achieve economies of scale and sophistication otherwise only achievable by very large health systems. Early in their history, the founding partners elected a strategic focus on Health Information Technology (HIT), and formed Alliance of Chicago Community Health Services, now AllianceChicago Health Information Technology, as a vehicle to carry out a cutting edge electronic health records implementation. Reflective of their commitment to share benefits with other safety net health care organizations, AllianceChicago HIT offers services to other non-profit organizations who share a similar mission to serve the underserved. As a Low Profit Limited Liability Corporation, AllianceChicago HIT is able to balance legal protections for its members with a commitment to perform a social good rather than generate profits.
For more than 20 years, AllianceChicago HIT has been expanding and innovating to meet the diverse and ever-evolving health care needs of vulnerable populations, while proactively responding to the changing health care climate. We have grown from a network of the four founding Chicago members to a national network of 74 community health centers. Here are some milestones:
Our Values
The AllianceChicago Core Values are the basis for establishing a common culture for the organization. Our Core Values are:
