Community-Based Health Interventions in an Institutional Context
examines challenges of "institutionalizing" community-based health care.
While the community-based or localized model is growing in popularity
and importance in the United States, in practice it must often be
brought in to larger institutions in order to grow to scale. The typical
goals of an institution--standardization, formalization, and
control--may be seen as antithetical to those of a community-based
healthcare provider, such as spontaneity, customization, and
flexibility.
The contributions to this work raise questions about how the
community-based model can be scaled up through institutions, and how
"institutionalization" can be rethought from a bottom-up approach. They
provide not only an overview of community-based organizations, but also
delve into practical topics such as establishing budgets, training
workers, incorporating technology, as well as more theoretical topics
like goal-setting, policy effects (like the ACA), and relationships
between patient and community.
This work will be of interest for researchers interested in exploring
the community-based health care model, as well as practitioners in
health care and health policy.