Summary
How we structure ownership and work in healthcare matters.
As a society, we underpay and under-support—under-care-for—the very workers we rely on to provide health and care services to others. The COVID-19 pandemic briefly spotlighted this fact as health workers braved risks to care for the vulnerable. The worst of that crisis has passed—but the extractive business models that structure health and care work under American capitalism endure.
These case studies document—for the first time—healthcare organizations that take the form of worker cooperatives. As worker-owned and governed businesses, these cooperatives are breaking with prevalent ownership and organizational models to forge a fundamentally different, more worker-centered approach.
The nine cases detail at a granular level how U.S. worker cooperatives in health-related fields are organized, how they govern themselves, and how they prioritize worker well-being while delivering needed services to clients and patients.
Table of Contents
PART I: Home Care Cooperatives
PART II: Professionalized Health Practices
PART III: Case Studies in Systems Change
Access the Teaching Guide.