Community Health Needs Assessment

Community Health Needs Assessment (CHNA) is part strategic plan/part grounding rod, and provides 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 due to health institutions formally recognizing its importance by requiring it for nonprofit health systems. 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, which leads to more targeted, effective community improvement planning.


Ideally, CHNAs are developed through a collaborative process (involving stakeholders from various sectors) and take into consideration present-day data, as well as historical data, in order to examine change over time and trend lines. Vulnerable populations are at risk for disparate healthcare access and outcomes because of economic, cultural, racial, or health characteristics. Examining data across different populations is important and allows you to see that people in your community have different lived experiences, resulting in different health risks and needs. If data cannot be broken out by race, for example, you’ll likely miss important differences in health needs across populations; your data won’t show health disparities. Knowing the specific health needs a population faces enables you to tailor health improvement efforts to appropriate priority populations and work to minimize disparities and promote an equitable approach to health improvement planning.


Historically, Black people and other communities of color have borne a larger burden of negative health outcomes than their white counterparts. There are myriad reasons for this, including a national legacy of systemic racism, and disparities in health care access, coverage, and quality. Careful conduction of CHNAs can serve to identify root causes of inequity with regards to health care and drive efforts to reverse these trends and improve health for all.


Due to its widespread use by local public health agencies and organizations, as well as hospitals and hospital systems, there is potential to drastically improve the healthcare landscape and advance community well-being through improving the CHNA process. In recent years, many have advocated for the integration of more non-health data into CHNA (e.g. housing data, transportation data). Adoption of a more general, well-being frame, in addition to health outcome data, acknowledges the interconnectedness of our physical health to the community conditions in which we live. Specifically, many have used the Vital Conditions for Community Well-Being framework to examine how the healthcare system can contribute to advancing community well-being outside of its traditionally clinical sphere.

Resources & Tools


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Maps and Data
Story - Original
Brought to you by Community Commons
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The Science of Thriving
Story - Original
Brought to you by Community Commons
Home page of CARES CHNA Report tool
SparkMap Community Needs Assessment
Tool - Data/mapping Tool
Staff Pick!
IP3 ASSESS
Tool - Data/mapping Tool
Staff Pick!
Home page for CARES CHNA Mapping Tool
CARES Engagement Network
Tool - Data/mapping Tool
Community Health Assessment Toolkit graphic
Community Health Assessment Toolkit
Tool - Toolkit/toolbox
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Decolonizing Evidence To Better Support Native Communities
Resource - Blog
Brought to you by Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health
Cover page of the CHNA guidelines document
CHNA Guidelines
Resource - Legislation
Brought to you by IP3
Cover page of Toolkit for Conducting Focus Groups document
Toolkit for Conducting Focus Groups
Resource - Guide/handbook
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Conducting Successful Virtual Focus Groups
Resource
Brought to you by Child Trends
Cover page of Listening to the Community's Input: A Guide to Primary Data Collection
Listening to the Community's Input: A Guide to Primary Data Collection
Resource - Guide/handbook
Brought to you by WALHDAB
First page of A Guide to Conducting Online Focus Groups guide
A Guide to Conducting Online Focus Groups
Resource - Guide/handbook
Brought to you by Vital Strategies
Cover page of Seattle's Health and Infrastructure Opportunities Report
City of Seattle Community Health & Infrastructure Opportunities Analysis
Resource
Brought to you by Willamette Partnership
First page of Focus Group Tip Sheet document
Focus Group Tip Sheet
Resource - Fact Sheet
Brought to you by U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
First page of Guidelines for Conducting a Focus Group document
Guidelines for Conducting a Focus Group
Resource - Guide/handbook
Cover page of Introduction to Conducting Focus Groups document
Introduction to Conducting Focus Groups
Resource - Guide/handbook
PDF Cover: A Playbook for New Rural Healthcare Partnership Models of Investment
A Playbook for New Rural Healthcare Partnership Models of Investment
Resource - Guide/handbook
Brought to you by Build Healthy Places Network
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An Introduction to Community Health Needs Assessment (CHNA)
Story - Original
Brought to you by Community Commons
Published on 09/19/2023
Saint Anthony Community Wellness Center
Promoting Holistic Wellness among Community Residents
Story - Written
Brought to you by 100MHL
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Centering Community Voice: Stories of Lived Experiences
Story - Video
Brought to you by Georgia Health Policy Center
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Community Health Assessment During COVID-19
Story - Written
Brought to you by IP3

 Related Topics


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Community Health Improvement Plans

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Hospitals and Healthcare Institutions

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Demographic Data

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Data Sharing

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Community Needs Assessment

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Health Equity