José R. Sánchez’s Vision for Healthcare Starts—and Stays—in the Community

From Struggling Hospital to Community Anchor

When Sánchez arrived in 2010, the hospital was struggling in a familiar story for safety-net organizations: undercapitalized, heavily dependent on Medicaid, and trying to serve a population with some of the highest burdens of chronic disease in the Chicagoland area.

It was a similar scenario in a different city for the veteran administrator who had spent decades running hospitals in Harlem and other low‑income communities in New York. He set a plan in motion to stabilize the hospital’s finances, rebuild community trust, and prove that a hospital serving a marginalized population could deliver quality care on par with the city’s flagship healthcare systems.

One notable turning point came in January 2021, when the organization formally retired the Norwegian American name and reintroduced itself as Humboldt Park Health. This thoughtful, progressive shift was a public declaration that the hospital’s identity proudly reflected the community it served. Surrounded by culturally rich, multilingual, multiracial neighborhoods, the hospital and its staff were committed to being in partnership with residents, responding to their needs and barriers to wellness. Not just crisis intervention.

A Gold‑Standard Safety‑Net

Sánchez often describes safety‑net hospitals as both the economic backbone and the moral compass of their neighborhoods. In addition to providing essential care, safety-net hospitals employ hundreds of people, who in turn patronize local business along with patients coming into the community for their healthcare.

However, roughly three‑quarters of Humboldt Park Health revenue comes from Medicaid, placing it in one of the most financially precarious categories of American hospitals, despite having closed “in the black” for fourteen consecutive years.

“We run this hospital as a business, but we never forget that it’s built on taxpayers’ dollars and on the trust of a community that depends on us,” the CEO says.

That financial discipline underpins its evolution into what peers now call “the gold standard of safety‑net hospitals,” a system that not only survives but also innovates in one of the toughest corners of the healthcare market.

Quality, not just solvency, has been central to that progress. The hospital maintains full accreditation from the Joint Commission and has earned certifications for programs including stroke care and laboratory services, signaling adherence to rigorous national standards.

In 2024, Humboldt Park Health became the first hospital in the Midwest (and only the thirteenth in the United States) to receive the Joint Commission’s Health Equity Certification, formal recognition that equity is embedded in its governance, data systems, and care delivery.

That distinction reflects years of work building an infrastructure that tracks social determinants of health, monitors disparities in outcomes, and uses real‑time data to shape targeted interventions, from mammography outreach to food distribution.

Those efforts have not gone unnoticed. Inclusion in Becker’s 2025 list of “100 Great Community Hospitals” placed Humboldt Park Health alongside larger, more heavily resourced systems, underscoring that a 200‑bed safety‑net can compete on quality, patient experience, and innovation.

For a community long accustomed to being overlooked, that kind of national recognition carries symbolic power and is proof that world‑class care is not the exclusive domain of affluent zip codes.

Integrating Culture, Community, and Care

One of the distinguishing features of Humboldt Park Health’s recent evolution is its deep integration with the cultural life of the neighborhood. The hospital partners with institutions such as the National Museum of Puerto Rican Arts and Culture and the Puerto Rican Cultural Center to weave health education into festivals, art events, and community gatherings.

Inside its facilities, murals and design elements by local artists echo the flags, colors, and imagery that line Division Street and Humboldt Park, signaling that patients and families are seen and valued.

Sánchez’s involvement with organizations beyond healthcare, such as the Water People Theater, a Venezuelan theater group in Chicago where he serves as Board Chair, shows his commitment to broader transformation. One that celebrates the culture and heritage of the community Humboldt Park Health serves.

Looking Ahead: Housing, Health Equity, and Endless Energy

Still, Sánchez talks about Humboldt Park Health as a work in progress. Among the most ambitious projects on the horizon is the development of one hundred units of affordable housing, the first phase of a plan that could eventually deliver several hundred units linked to the hospital’s emerging wellness district.

Working with city and state officials, he envisions housing that stabilizes families vulnerable to displacement while creating a pipeline to preventive care, behavioral health services, and the amenities of the Wellness Center.

He frames his priorities in four parts: staying healthy himself, supporting his family and grandchildren, improving the health of Humboldt Park and beyond, and mentoring the next generation of healthcare leaders.

Retirement is not on the immediate horizon; he jokes that he will step down when “called [eternally] upstairs,” but until then, he intends to keep pushing, convening, and building.

“When I look at my career, I feel I’m at the best stage of my life,” Sánchez says. “I have knowledge, I have experience, and I still have the energy and the work ethic to use both.”

The CEO has spent fifteen years helping make a safety-net system a point of pride for Chicago. It has never been more difficult to be a safety-net hospital in America, but Humboldt Park Health is a shining example of what true community service can look like for a healthcare system.