San Francisco set a national precedent with its COVID-19 response strategy, saving lives and reducing health disparities. A new article highlights the innovative San Francisco Health Systems Collaborative that formed amid the pandemic's uncertainty and presented audacious results.
According to the NEJM Catalyst, this coordinated response model spearheaded by the San Francisco Department of Public Health (SFDPH) alongside local care providers, including UCSF, Kaiser Permanente, and others, has achieved remarkable feats. According to the City and County of San Francisco, Dr. Mary Mercer, Chief of Staff at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center (ZSFG), emphasized the significance of this union of traditional market competitors, "The threat to public health created by the COVID-19 pandemic prompted those organizations that are traditional competitors in the marketplace to work together to meet the system-wide health needs of the public." These organizations pooled resources and shared critical information, ultimately providing the broad community access to health services.
The collaboration, known as the San Francisco Health System Collaborative, was instrumental in establishing priorities during the pandemic—such as protecting those most susceptible to COVID-19 infection, safeguarding health care workers, and preserving health system capacity. San Francisco's Health Officer, Dr. Susan Philip, stated, as per the City and County of San Francisco, "Using this collaboration, we were able to identify surge bed capacity for use system-wide and ensure equitable vaccine distribution at our five mass vaccination sites."
SF's adept response didn't only shine during the height of COVID-19 but was again leveraged for the mpox outbreak. As per the City and County of San Francisco, Dr. Grant Colfax, Director of Health, noted the blueprint's broader application beyond a singular crisis, "It’s a blueprint that we can utilize for major threats to public health." San Francisco's efforts have succeeded, boasting some of the highest primary vaccination rates and one of the lowest COVID-19 mortality rates among major U.S. metropolitan areas.
