8 Books Every Community Health Center Leader Should Read
In this post you'll find:
Eight books selected for community health center professionals
Ideas on health equity, Medicaid, leadership, and belonging
A place to start when choosing your next read
What are you reading lately?
For Community Health Center (CHC) professionals, there is always more to learn. From improving access to health care and addressing health inequalities to supporting staff, strengthening leadership, and staying up to date on emerging medical terminology, policies, and legislation, books can be valuable resources.
At the heart of the community health center mission is a commitment to delivering affordable, effective, and comprehensive care that improves health for all. This work requires more than clinical and medical knowledge alone. Instead, it calls for an understanding of leadership, equality, community, and history that helps us better understand the many factors that shape health and well-being. Continuing to learn about these factors can help bring new ideas and perspectives into the work of community health care professionals.
“When I was asked to serve as CEO, I made a commitment on that very first day that I would visit all of our sites, shake every employee’s hand, thank them for their work, and listen. I wanted to know how can I help you to be a better servant to our patients and our community.” - Primary Health Network CEO Dr. George Garrow
To help you find your next great read, we’ve put together a list of some top books for CHC professionals.
8 Books Worth Reading for Community Health Center Professionals
1.
In his discussion of healthcare, physician Rishi Manchanda takes an eye-opening approach, claiming our health may depend even more on social and environmental settings than on cutting-edge medical care.
Manchanda argues that the future of healthcare depends on developing a new generation of healthcare practitioners. Rather than quick symptomatic relief, we need doctors who look upstream for the source of the problem.
Upstreamists, as he calls them, are doctors and nurses on the front lines of medicine who view that our health begins with our everyday lives, the places we work, eat, live, and play. Their perspective offers an interesting take on an individual's health, viewing it more as a chemical equation that can be balanced with procedures and pills in clinical walls.
If we want to change the healthcare system from one that is expensive and mainly treats people after they become sick to one that provides better health outcomes and prevents illness, upstreamists will show us the way.
2.
President of the World Medical Association, Michael Marmot, reveals through his groundbreaking book that social injustice may be the greatest threat to global health.
For instance, in a Baltimore inner-city neighborhood, a man’s life expectancy is 63. A few neighborhoods away, in the Greater Roland Park area, life expectancy is 83. But why?
Marmot explains that dramatic differences in health are not a simple matter of rich and poor. Poverty alone doesn’t drive ill health and sickness; inequality does.
In every country, people with lower social status suffer health disadvantages and shorter lives. Although conventional approaches to improving health have emphasized access to medical treatments and encouraged healthier behavior, these methods only go so far. Instead, granting people more control and power over their lives can help reduce health inequalities and improve overall health.
Marmot underscores that society has the resources and tools to improve health worldwide, but failing to do so is unjust. The Health Gap presents compelling statistics, evidence, and examples to show how inequalities in power, money, and resources contribute to differences in health. Thus emphasizing that a radical change in healthcare is necessary to close the health gap.
3.
How do policy and politics influence the social conditions that generate health outcomes? Through The Political Determinants of Health, Daniel Dawes answers this burning question. Dawes argues that political determinants of health create social drivers, including poor environmental conditions, inadequate transportation, unsafe neighborhoods, and lack of healthy food options, which all affect other dynamics of health.
By understanding these determinants, their origins, and impact, societies will be better equipped to create solutions to close the health gap. Dawes draws directly on his firsthand experience helping shape major policies, including the Affordable Care Act, to trace the history of efforts to address the political determinants that have produced health inequalities. Ultimately, Dawes examines the political decisions that shape society’s social conditions, making the social determinants of health more accessible, and overall providing a playbook for how we can address them effectively.
4.
Medicaid is the single largest public health insurer in the United States, covering nearly 70 million individuals.
Importantly, Medicaid is a joint federal-state program. The federal government establishes the framework, while each individual state has significant control over how the program is structured and carried out. While some states are generous, others are tightfisted.
In Fragmented Democracy, Jamila Michener unpacks the consequences of such disparities for democratic citizenship, examining American democracy from the vantage points of those living in near poverty, Black or Latino, and reliant on the government for vital resources.
5.
Do you really know where your money goes when you pay for healthcare?
In The Price We Pay, physician and health policy researcher Marty Makary dives into the forces behind healthcare's high cost and where the money actually goes. Through his travels around America, Makary draws from on-the-ground stories showing how the modern-day healthcare system is shaped by confusing prices, financial incentives, and unnecessary layers of middlemen.
The Price We Pay isn’t simply about what is broken, but highlights how individuals and organizations can find new ways to deliver care, starting with putting patients back at the center of the healthcare experience. Makary’s perspective offers a thought-provoking look at the possibilities of transforming healthcare into a system that redefines trust and value and puts better care back at the center.
6.
Community Health Centers: A Movement and the People Who Made It Happen (Critical Issues in Health and Medicine) by Bonnie Lefkowitz
The story of community health centers is more than just healthcare. Rather, it’s a story about communities from different backgrounds coming together to address and shape ideas and conflicts around health. In this book, Lefkowitz tells the story of the groundbreaking approach to medicine: community health centers.
Since their creation in the 1960s, community health centers have served the needs of the nation's poor. These early centers provided not only health care but also social and environmental services, economic development, and empowerment.
Through personal accounts and interviews with national leaders, health care workers, patients, and activists, Lefkowitz shows how this movement grew from a small project into a nationwide network, navigating political shifts, limited resources, discrimination, and other challenges that come with creating change.
7.
What if there was a single solution to the biggest challenges facing healthcare: chronic disease, rising costs, physician and admin shortages, care access, and affordability?
Through his book, James Maskell reveals how community, specifically centered in group medical visits, can help solve these challenges. The Community Cure is a practical guide to group visits that brings patients, medical providers, professionals, and individuals together to learn and support one another. It explores the origin of group visits, what makes them work, and how healthcare teams can bring them into their own practice.
8.
While The Art of Community explores community more broadly, its central message connects to the future of healthcare by showing how people need community to thrive. In this book, Vogl explores seven principles for creating a community where individuals feel connected, supported, and truly belong.
At the heart of community health centers is a powerful mission: to ensure everyone can access high-quality healthcare, regardless of circumstances. This mission is deeply rooted in community, as community health centers transform healthcare from an individual's experience into a shared one. The Art of Community inspires us to create spaces where individuals feel welcomed and to go beyond the typical one-on-one healthcare encounter.
Closing the Page on the Top Books for Community Health Center Professionals
For community health centers and professionals, staying informed, inspired, and connected is essential to navigating the challenges of community-based care.
Whether you are looking for practical insights, staying up to date on emerging medical terminology, policies, and legislation, or finding ways to improve access to health care, these resources can support learning, leadership, and professional growth. By prioritizing continuous learning, community health center professionals can strengthen their practice while staying responsive to the changing needs of the patients and communities.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who are CHC professionals?
Community health center professionals are healthcare and support staff who provide medical services to individuals and families within marginalized or underserved communities.
What is the CHC mission?
The community health center mission is to deliver affordable, effective, and comprehensive care that improves health for all, regardless of ability to pay or insurance status.
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