Additional Areas of Focus:
Catholic Identity: “As a ministry of the Roman Catholic Church,” says CHA, “Catholic health organizations commit to: promote and defend human dignity; attend to the whole person; care for poor and vulnerable persons; promote the common good; act on behalf of justice; steward resources; and act in communion with the church.”
Continuing Care: Serving the elderly and the chronically ill is an essential part of CHA’s ministry. Specifically, the Association is committed to helping its members: “provide holistic, person-centered, high-quality care” to these populations; “work collaboratively with others holding similar values to offer a continuum of services”; “integrate and coordinate care across settings for continuity of care”; and “advocate for just public policies.”
Ethics: “Catholic health care,” says CHA, “carries out the healing ministry of Jesus in a complex environment — a fragmented health care system, millions of Americans uninsured or underinsured, enormous competition, challenges in reimbursement, proliferating technologies, and numerous biomedical and scientific advances.” To assist its members in “navigating the many complex ethical realities in health care today,” CHA conducts consultations, presentations, collaborations with colleagues, developing and sharing resources, webinars, educational programs, research and writing.
Human Trafficking: Condemning the subjection of people to “force, fraud, or coercion for the purpose of commercial sex or forced labor,” CHA states that “Catholic and other health care organizations and their health care professionals can help victims of human trafficking by being alert to the problem and realizing patients they are treating may be victims.”
International Outreach: Serving people in missions, clinics and hospitals worldwide, CHA’s international outreach program supports members, partnering organizations and the church in a “global mission of healing through research, education, consultation and collaboration.”
Pastoral Care and Physician Engagement: CHA emphasizes the importance of “Catholic health care [that] is committed to care of the whole person — body, mind and spirit.”