283655
Healthy shawnee county: Experiences of hospitals and public health agency collaboration on a community health needs assessment
Allison Alejos, RN, BSN
,
Local Health Department, Shawnee County Health Agency, Topeka, KS
Thomas Luellen
,
Planning and Decision Support, Stormont-Vail HealthCare, Topeka, KS
Robert Hedberg
,
Local Health Department, Shawnee County Health Agency, Topeka, KS
In August 2011 two community hospitals (St. Francis Health Center, Stormont-Vail HealthCare) and the Shawnee County Health Agency formed the Healthy Shawnee County Task Force to conduct a community health needs assessment. The Healthy Shawnee County Task Force utilized the Community Health Assessment Toolkit from the Association for Community Health Improvement, an American Hospital Association personal membership group. The ACHI provides a guide for planning, leading and using community health needs assessments to better understand -- and ultimately improve -- the health of communities. The CHNA goals were: 1. Meet requirements of local health department accreditation and hospital IRS requirements, 2. Collaborate with local public health experts and community stakeholders to collect and utilize primary and secondary data to assess health needs of Shawnee County and 3. Identify and prioritize top health needs in Shawnee County. The Kansas Health Matters web interface supplied population-level data. A community survey, widely disseminated via email, provided additional quantitative data. Qualitative data were obtained from three focus groups and a survey of local public health experts. The Healthy Shawnee County Task Force compiled the qualitative and quantitative data. 14 community issues emerged and were grouped into two major categories: Life Style Issues and Access to Care Issues. Through a successful partnership, the HSCTF CHNA was able to 1. Create a comprehensive community health needs assessment, 2. Link outcomes and strategies to Healthy People 2020 Leading Health Indicators, 3. Develop a workgroup of relevant community agencies to continue community health improvement process, 4. Empower community members and community agencies to work collaboratively on prioritized issues or other HP2020 indicators, and 5. Evaluate progress on priorities of local hospitals and public health agency in conjunction with other community-wide initiatives. We recommend this shared approach to others attempting to meet IRS CHNA requirements and public health accreditation.
Learning Areas:
Administration, management, leadership
Assessment of individual and community needs for health education
Planning of health education strategies, interventions, and programs
Public health administration or related administration
Public health or related laws, regulations, standards, or guidelines
Learning Objectives:
Describe the Association for Community Health Improvement model for assessing the health of a community.
Identify cross-walk between IRS requirements for community health needs assessment and public health accreditation.
List potential barriers to collaboration between community hospitals and local public health departments.
Keywords: Community Health Assessment, Hospitals
Presenting author's disclosure statement:Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I chaired the Healthy Shawnee County Task Force, community health needs assessment group. I have worked in public health evaluation and was responsible for community benefit and community health improvement activities at a senior administrative level. I was invited to present as a best practice for a statewide collaborative hosted and developed by the Kansas Health Institute. I was also a member of Kansas Partnership for Improving Community Health.
Any relevant financial relationships? No
I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines,
and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed
in my presentation.
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