IMPROVING COMMUNITY HEALTH NEEDS ASSESSMENT PROCESSES

BJC HealthCare (BJC) is one of the largest nonprofit healthcare organizations in the US, with 15 hospitals located across Missouri and Illinois. As per the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010, each BJC hospital is required to complete a Community Health Needs Assessment (CHNA) at least every 3 years. BJC engaged a Capstone team to provide recommendations to increase alignment in CHNA execution across the network and improve processes to better reflect the health needs of communities served by the organization. The team conducted an extensive landscape analysis of CHNA activities at healthcare organizations across the country and drew upon best practices regarding health needs data collection, community and patient engagement, participatory action research, and public health planning. In addition to making recommendations that were immediately implemented in the 2023 CHNA at one of the BJC hospitals, the team created an updated CHNA guidebook, along with a roadmap outlining steps for BJC to implement a system-wide approach for future CHNA cycles.