Community Health Needs Assessments (CHNAs) are part strategic plan/part grounding rod, and provide a systematic process for determining health needs in a particular community or population and using results to spur community change.
CHNA has long been best practice within the field of public health, but the process has gained momentum now that the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 (ACA) requires tax-exempt hospitals to do a CHNA every three years alongside stakeholders. CHNAs prompt those working to improve community health to consider local conditions—both community needs and assets—leading to more targeted, effective community improvement planning.
More and more organizations, funders, community collaboratives, and even local government agencies are looking for efficient, effective ways to do CHNA. At IP3, we believe that CHNA should catalyze community change, not just check a box. This means a holistic approach that includes robust community and stakeholder engagement, alignment across stakeholder groups, and moving collaboratively from community insight (exploring the data) to concerted community action (taking action to advance equitable well-being).
About IP3 ASSESS
IP3 ASSESS is our web-based data solution designed and built for changemakers using data to advance equitable well-being in communities around the Nation. It includes a robust starter list of indicators, interactive maps, and simple, shareable reporting to create online data dashboards. IP3 ASSESS allows you to easily combine and compare data from different sources, surface community insights, align data across organizations and sectors, and move straight into concerted action.
IP3 ASSESS was born out of collaborative work with Kaiser Permanente; together IP3 and Kaiser made a web-based data tool to support hospitals and health systems in collecting and interpreting data to comply with the new Affordable Care Act requirements. IP3 ASSESS uses a unique framework-based approach to assessment, designed to move from insight to action.
Key Ways IP3 ASSESS Supports Holistic, Effective CHNA
Case Study: Inland Empire Health Plan
Inland Empire Health Plan (IEHP) serves the Inland Empire region in Southern California and is a top 10 largest Medicaid health plan and the largest not-for-profit Medicare-Medicaid plan in the country—they have 1.6 million members and over 7,000 providers in the network.
IEHP wanted to save time accessing and analyzing data to identify the top health and well-being needs in the region, explore data through the Vital Conditions Framework, and have a data solution that made it easier to do meaningful community engagement.
IEHP required a simple, shareable, effective solution that could be implemented quickly, which combined improved quantitative analysis methods with qualitative resources to drive implementation planning. Rather than simply fulfilling the minimum requirements for a CHNA, IEHP was keen to orient the CHNA around the community, take a holistic approach to data and explore upstream and clinical priorities, and align partners and stakeholders around broad efforts and implementation strategies.
With IP3 ASSESS, IEHP was able to quickly access and interpret the quantitative data needed to complete their 2022 Community Health Assessment, leaving more time for staff and partners to focus on engaging the community in the work. The official CHNA report was only the first step in their process to advance well-being in the Inland Empire—there is much momentum in the region as the group of multi-sector stakeholders is working to develop a collaborative, community- and data-driven action plan. This is the work of a diverse group of stakeholders that set out to identify the top health and well-being needs of Inland Empire residents. Stewardship is the foundation of this work—stakeholders and community partners will use findings to build community interventions that generate collective investments addressing the identified priorities and priority populations.
The use of IP3 ASSESS uniquely extends beyond the CHNA process—explore the graphic below to see how the platform supports changemakers beyond CHNA. If you’re interested in more robust support around identifying, accessing, and using community health data in your work, contact us today to learn more!
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