Hospital-community partnership to implement community-based health improvement

Sep 30, 2026

Uploaded by Aldword

Not-for-profit healthcare systems have a mission-driven obligation and federal mandate to address significant community health concerns through the Community Health Improvement Planning process. In this county, four hospitals, the county public health department, and several community-based organizations collaborate to review data, prioritize needs, and identify evidence-based interventions every 3 years. A mini-grant process funded community-based organizations with evidence-informed projects, producing gains in contraception education, Mental Health First Aid capacity, and behavioral health screening for refugee children. Supporting community agencies to design, conduct, and evaluate these interventions helps hospitals strengthen trust while improving outcomes for those at greatest risk.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryHealthcare

FormatPDF

Pages5

Reading Time13 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

Introduction

Community partnership

Significance for public health

Hospital-community partnership to implement community-based health improvement Theresa Green 1, Max Dargavel2, Megan Clifford3, Jennifer Quick4 and Richard Millard5 Journal of Public Health Research 2026, Vol. 15(1), 1–5 © The Author(s) 2026 DOI: 10. 1177/22799036251410256 [journals.sagepub.com/home/phj](journals.sagepub.com/home/phj) Abstract Not-for-profit healthcare systems have a mission-driven obligation and federal mandate to address significant community health concerns through the Community Health Improvement Planning process. In this county, four hospitals, the county public health department and several community-based organizations collaborate to review data, prioritize needs, and identify evidence-based interventions every 3 years. Recently the partnership initiated a mini-grant process to fund community-based organizations that propose evidence-informed projects to address improvement goals. The mini-grant process funded three community-based projects in high-risk areas to address disparities in maternal and child health outcomes, including mental health. Results showed increased contraception education to adolescents, 45 new Mental Health First Aid providers for children and new families, and 176 refugee children screened for behavioral health concerns. By supporting community-based agencies to design, conduct and evaluate evidence-informed interventions, hospitals can build strong partnerships and trust among their patient community while improving health outcomes for those at greatest risk. Keywords disparities, community, partnership, planning, mental health Received: 30 May 2025; accepted: 8 December 2025 Introduction Disparities in health outcomes persist despite health system efforts to improve care.1 Many of the drivers of health disparities are due to underlying variation in the upstream community-based social drivers of health.2 Not-for-profit hospitals and health care systems have a moral obligation and federal mandate to address health beyond healthcare delivery and annually report on community benefits. The Affordable Care Act, section 9007, created additional requirements for hospitals to maintain charitable 501(c)(3) statis including the creation of a community health needs assessment (CHNA) and an accompanying community health improvement plan (CHIP) to address the identified needs, every 3 years.3 This requirement for community health improvement planning is an opportunity for health systems to partner with community-based organizations to address social inequities that drive health disparities. Health systems recognize the critical importance of improving social circumstance; however, the expertise and sustained implementation capability often lies with community-based organizations. 1 Public Health Sciences, Center for Community Health & Prevention, University of Rochester Medical Center, NY, USA 2Center for Community Health & Prevention, University of Rochester Medical Center, NY, USA 3Wellness Associates of Greater Rochester, NY, USA 4Metro Council for Teen Potential (MCTP), Baden Street Settlement of Rochester Inc, NY, USA 5Rochester Refugee Resettlement Services, Inc., NY, USA Corresponding author: Theresa Green, Public Health Sciences, Center for Community Health & Prevention, University of Rochester Medical Center, 46 Prince Street, Rochester, NY 14607, USA. [Email: Theresa_Green@URMC.rochester.edu](Email: Theresa_Green@URMC.rochester.edu) Creative Commons Non Commercial CC BY-NC: This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial 4.0 License ([https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/)) which permits non-commercial use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access pages ([https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage](https://us.sagepub.com/e

FAQs

Why do not-for-profit healthcare systems need community health improvement planning?

They have mission-driven obligations and federal mandates to address significant community health concerns through the Community Health Improvement Planning process.

How does the county partnership operate in the CHNA/CHIP cycle?

Four hospitals, the county public health department, and community-based organizations review data, prioritize needs, and identify evidence-based interventions every 3 years.

What did the mini-grant process fund and what outcomes were reported?

It funded evidence-informed community projects in high-risk areas, leading to increased contraception education for adolescents, trained Mental Health First Aid providers for children and new families, and behavioral health screening for refugee children.

Sep 30, 2026

Uploaded by Aldword