Catholic Health Initiatives was formed through the joining together of four national Catholic health care systems. Planning began in 1995, when Catholic health leaders began to explore strengthening community health care for the future.
Their goal: To develop and nurture a national health ministry, sponsored and governed by an equal religious-lay partnership, to transform health care delivery and foster vibrant new ministries across the nation to create healthier communities.
Today, CHI is guided by the same pioneering spirit that led women religious to carry out their healing ministry hundreds of years ago with a commitment to reach new milestones of clinical quality and an agenda of social justice. Here are a few of the historical highlights so far:
Two legacies of caring.
One ministry of change.
CommonSpirit was created by the alignment of Catholic Health Initiatives and Dignity Health as a single ministry in early 2019.
With a $2.5 million grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, CHI creates a new standard of primary care that incorporates attention to the basic human needs of people served. CHI’s Mission and Ministry Fund matches the foundation’s $2.5 million grant.
Brazosport Regional Health System, Lake Jackson, Texas, joins CHI St. Luke’s Health, Houston.
CHI joins the Health Care Transformation Task Force, an industry partnership of leading payers, providers, purchasers and patient organizations working to provide better care at lower cost.
The University Medical Center and the University of Louisville announce their partnership bringing together to put University Hospital and the James Graham Brown Cancer Center with under CHI’s KentuckyOne Health. In July 2017, after CHI’s decision to operate with a smaller footprint in Kentucky, management of these facilities returns to the University of Louisville.
CHI celebrates its 15th Anniversary.
Leaders from each system sign the documents that officially unite Catholic Health Corporation, Franciscan Health System and Sisters of Charity Health Care System as Catholic Health Initiatives.
Ten congregations of women religious engage in discussions that continue until 1996 when CHI is formed.
Their vision focuses on a shared model of sponsorship with equal participation by religious and lay members. This precedent-setting structure makes CHI the first Catholic health system to give the laity a sponsorship role in its facilities.
Today the participating and partnering congregations continue to advocate for CHI, make committee appointments, provide helpful dialogues and take part in key functions.