San Francisco’s Collaborative COVID-19 Response Saved Lives and Reduced Health Disparities, New Article Finds

SAN FRANCISCO, CA - The success of the closely coordinated response of the San Francisco Department of Public Health (SFDPH) and local acute care and ambulatory health care systems within the City and County of San Francisco during the COVID-19 pandemic was detailed in an article published in the prestigious NEJM Catalyst this week.

This cross-institutional coordination, conceived in the early days of the pandemic, is credited alongside community-led efforts for San Francisco achieving one of the lowest COVID-19 death rates and among the highest vaccination rates in the state and country.

Medical and public health experts from all major San Francisco health systems, including SFDPH, UCSF, Kaiser Permanente, Chinese Hospital, and Sutter Health, came together to co-author the article titled The San Francisco Health Systems Collaborative: Public Health and Health Care Delivery Systems' Response to the Covid-19 Pandemic. The article details how the health system partners convened to align and coordinate medical surge planning and response in order to better respond to the pandemic, as well as to prevent or mitigate health disparities in both resource allocation and access to care.

The lead author, Dr. Mary Mercer, Chief of Staff of Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center (ZSFG), says these organizations were able to find common ground and align interests for the greater good. "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. We shared information and pooled resources which provided broad community access in ways not seen before."

Dubbed the San Francisco Health System Collaborative, this model guided local medical and public health response in the areas of medical surge, vaccination administration, testing and therapeutics. High level priorities were established including protecting those most at risk of COVID-19 infection, protecting health care workers, and maintaining health system capacity.

Dr. Susan Philip, Health Officer for the City and County of San Francisco, says this unique partnership relied on four principals of shared priorities, accountability, transparency, as well as operational coordination, a model which continued past the peak of the pandemic. "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. We continued to work together on both boosters and therapeutics, and are fortunate to have world class medical institutions in San Francisco that are key partners in tackling big public health issues. This model can be utilized by jurisdictions across the county in their public health preparedness efforts."

The impact of the San Francisco Health Systems Collaborative was felt beyond COVID-19. Director of Health Dr. Grant Colfax, says the San Francisco Health System Collaborative was utilized again during San Francisco's successful mpox response, "It's a blueprint that we can utilize for major threats to public health. Residents of our City can feel secure in the knowledge that health systems both public and private are willing and able to join forces in order to protect the public."

San Francisco has led the nation in its response to COVID-19 having the highest primary vaccination series completion rates in the nation and one of the lowest death rates among larger metropolitan cities. This would not have been possible without the robust vaccination and testing infrastructure put in place by SFDPH, in partnership with community-based organizations and health systems partners throughout the City, as well as the participation and cooperation of San Francisco residents.