Community Health Assessment Toolkit

A well-executed CHA can be foundational to better health outcomes for individuals; stronger, more enduring relationships between hospitals and community groups; and healthier, more vibrant communities for all.

With that in mind, this toolkit presumes that most, if not all, organizations using this guide will have previous CHA experience. We encourage those responsible for the CHA to deeply engage with this experience and build on what has been done in the past but not limit yourselves to past practices. The CHA is about continuously updating shared understanding of a community’s assets and needs. The process will evolve as experience accumulates.

Health care professionals have long known the impact of societal factors on the health of individuals and communities. In recent years, consensus has emerged that these needs are best addressed through collaboration. Aiming for this goal, cross-sector and multisector groups have increasingly coordinated activities to address the various factors that impact health.

The importance of developing a process that is both intentional and explicit about the central role of reducing disparities in health outcomes in the CHA cannot be overstated. CHAs provide an undeniable opportunity to accelerate efforts on this front by working with the community to address policies and practices that create access, resources and opportunities to promote health and remove barriers for all people. The resulting CHA strategic document can yield synergistic results when aligned with system-level planning on population health, emergency preparedness and organizational strategy.