Community Benefit

As a nonprofit, mission-driven organization, Fred Hutch Cancer Center is committed to partnering with our community to create longer, healthier and richer lives for our patients and everyone living in our service area. The work we do in the community is an extension of our core mission.

What is Community Benefit?

Fred Hutch serves a varied patient base, many of whom travel long distances to receive care. For our work to improve cancer-related population health outcomes, we define our community as everyone living in Washington state (all 39 counties).

Fred Hutch aims to make our care and expertise accessible to the broader population. We do this by:

  1. Providing financial assistance for our patients who need support
  2. Investing in community health initiatives focused on reducing the cancer
  3. Training medical professionals in the community
  4. Conducting research that strives to improve cancer prevention, detection, and treatment
  5. Providing funds, materials and staff resources to deliver education and prevention programs for community members
  6. Engaging and supporting the community through partnerships with local organizations

Community Health Needs Assessment

Our Community Benefit priorities are informed by the 2025 Community Health Needs Assessment (CHNA) and the 2024/2025 King County Joint Community Health Needs Assessment, published by Fred Hutch and 10 other hospitals as part of the King County Hospitals for a Healthier Community (KCHHC) collaborative. These assessments are conducted every three years and provide us with a deeper understanding of the impact of cancer on our region. 

2025-2028 Priority Areas

The Community Benefit Program aims to address entrenched social inequities associated with race, ethnicity, language, cultural norms and education to move to a system where every person has the opportunity to attain their full health potential. To do this, the CHNA identified six key health needs across Washington state and emphasized social determinants of health as key contributors to cancer disparities. 

  • Access to care
  • Culturally and linguistically responsive care
  • Social determinants of health
  • Preventive care
  • Health care affordability and cost of living
  • Mental health

Implementation Plan

To address these priority areas, Fred Hutch’s current Community Benefit activities are organized around our 2025-2028 Community Benefit Strategic Implementation Plan, which outlines our goals and objectives for addressing the community’s cancer-related health needs. 

Fred Hutch recognizes that the challenges facing our communities are deeply interconnected. Thus, Fred Hutch has combined the identified 2025-2028 priorities into three main focus areas. A strong emphasis on culturally and linguistically appropriate services (CLAS), mental health integration, strategic partnerships and policy, as well as advocacy, are incorporated across these areas.

  • Access to care
  • Prevention and screening
  • Social and economic drivers of health

Delivering Access to Affordable Care

We will improve access to high-quality cancer care along the cancer-care continuum (including preventive care), as well as wraparound services and behavioral health.

Providing Comprehensive Cancer Prevention, Education and Screening

Together with our partners, we strive to create a well-informed and proactive community that is empowered to prevent cancer through education, early detection and accessible screening services, regardless of income or ZIP code.

Addressing Socio-Economic Drivers of Health

We are committed to implementing strategies that improve access to care by focusing on socio-economic factors (such as education, income and language) that influence health outcomes.