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Updated to reflect IRS final rules issued on December 31, 2014.

Responding to the health needs of our communities, especially to the most vulnerable among us, is central to the mission of Catholic and other not-for-profit health care organizations. To do so, we need to have an understanding of community health needs and use a deliberate approach for addressing those needs.

The importance of assessing community health needs and developing an implementation strategy to address selected needs was reinforced by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Affordable Care Act), enacted March 23, 2010. The law added new requirements on tax-exempt hospitals to conduct community health needs assessments and to adopt implementation strategies to meet the community health needs identified through the assessments.

CHA, in collaboration with Vizient and the Healthy Communities Institute, developed this resource to help not-for-profit health care organizations strengthen their assessment and community benefit planning processes. Using CHA’s previous work, the experience of community benefit professionals and public health expertise, this resource offers practical advice on how hospitals can work with community and public health partners to assess community health needs and develop effective strategies for improving health in our communities.

This resource was developed especially for the hospital staff responsible for conducting or overseeing community health needs assessments and planning community benefit programs.

Others with an interest in community health may find this book useful as well. These could include staff within the organization such as administrators, clinicians and strategic planners, and community partners such as policy makers, consumer advocates, public officials and representatives of community groups.