The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) mandates that non-profit hospitals conduct a triennial CHNA and develop an implementation strategy to meet the community needs identified as a requirement to maintain their tax-exempt status. This mandate offers an opportunity for hospitals, local health departments, and other entities to work collaboratively across sectors to identify and address health needs in their communities. A complete listing of Connecticut hospital CHNAs is available at http://www.chime.org/advocacy/... The majority of towns included in each hospital CHNA were towns within the hospital’s primary or secondary service area. 

In 2014, the baseline year and the first year analysis was avaiable, 165 out of 169 Connecticut towns totaling an estimated 3,596,677 residents, or 99.3%, were covered under a CHNA. Through collaborative efforts between health care networks and community partners, all Connecticut towns (100% of Connecticut's population) were covered by a CHNA in 2016. 

This data is current as of July 2020. 

Health care providers, health professional associations, local public health agencies, municipal governments and planning agencies, community service organizations serving specific populations (children, older adults,

underserved populations),academic institutions that prepare the public health workforce, philanthropic organizations that address public health infrastructure, and others

Under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), non-profit hospitals are required to conduct a community health needs assessment (CHNA) with input from public health experts and community members, and adopt an implementation strategy to meet needs identified by the assessment. 

CDC, Office for State, Tribal, Local and Territorial Support - A community health assessment gives organizations comprehensive information about the community’s current health status, needs, and issues. This information can help develop a community health improvement plan by justifying how and where resources should be allocated to best meet community needs.

Benefits include: Improved organizational and community coordination and collaboration, increased knowledge about public health and the interconnectedness of activities, strengthened partnerships within state and local public health systems, identified strengths and weaknesses to address in quality improvement efforts, baselines on performance to use in preparing for accreditation, benchmarks for public health practice improvements https://www.cdc.gov/stltpublic...

For current year strategies and actions, click here (right click to open link).

Identify a central repository for assessment reports.

Encourage regional health assessments.

Develop and implement a systematic, statewide health planning infrastructure and network.

Establish linkages with educational institutions to provide support for needs assessments.

Establish a baseline of the number of communities currently covered by a community health assessment