How Conference of Boston Teaching Hospitals Lives United

The Conference of Boston Teaching Hospitals (COBTH) is a coalition of fourteen Boston-area academic medical centers that work together to advance their common missions of medical education, medical research, providing quality patient care and community service.

Through its committees of hospital staff focusing on specific issues, COBTH is able to address many public health concerns and bring together the appropriate personnel to respond to public officials seeking assistance with problems affecting the community.  In response to Mayor Menino and the Boston Public Health Commission's concern about racial and ethnic disparities in health care, COBTH convened hospital CEOs, Community Benefits staff, and other personnel to study best practices on how to attract and train a diverse workforce and how to meet the needs of culturally, linguistically, and racially diverse patient populations.

COBTH’s Community Benefits Committee provides an opportunity for hospitals to meet regularly to discuss and collaborate on identifying community-wide needs and creating programs together that address documented social or health care problems in Boston.  Community Benefits Committee members initiated and continue to fund the city's Cancer Ride program, which provides transportation to and from cancer treatment for city residents.  COBTH has also created a Community Benefits Report, which brings together information about the community service activities of its fourteen member hospitals.

COBTH's Domestic Violence Council, whose members are the domestic violence program directors at member hospitals, meets regularly to discuss the difficult problems their patients face and share information on how staffs deal with these issues.  Because of its strong record of sharing of best practices and helping victims, the Council has been recognized by Jane Doe Inc. with its Community Spirit Award.

Through its hospital staff committees collaborating to address a wide range of health and safety issues and by serving as the representative of the teaching hospitals in advocating for measures to protect the public's health as well as coverage of the uninsured, the Conference of Boston Teaching Hospitals is an example of how a small organization can Live United in a big way.