Community Health Needs Assessment

The new federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act requires that each registered 501(c)3 hospital conduct Community Health Needs Assessment (CHNA) at least once every three years and adopt a strategy to meet communty health needs. To comply with the ACA legislation's requirement, all hospitals need to have completed a CHNA within the prior three budget years by March 2014.

Crescendo's Community Health Needs Assessments can help answer the following questions:

How do residents in our service areas perceive local healthcare services?

Who are the community health-related resources in our community?

How can our hospital strategically use resources to engage people and organizations in our service area?

What will be the most effetive strategy to meet those needs?

What is the best way to improve the public image of our facility?

How can we gain consensus among multiple stakeholders to best meet service area health needs?

Crescendo consulting can provide you with a variety of approaches to meet the regulation. The legislation is quite broad and provides a great deal of leeway in terms of satisfying the requirement, but it is compulsory for hospitals to:

Solicit consumer opinions on the health needs in the community.

Gain insight from a "diverse stakeholder group" regarding the resources currently available in the community and determine the gaps between needs and available services.

Create a document that establishes how the hospital meets community needs and how it plans to address identified gaps.

Crescendo is uniquely qualified to assist your organization. The firm has worked with a wide range of communities and hospitals on both small and large health needs assessments for over 20 years. For more information, read our frequently asked questions about Community Health Needs Assessments document or contact Jim Kupel or Scott Good.

How can we help you get started on your Community Health Needs Assessment?