A community health assessment refers to a state, tribal, or local assessment that identifies key health needs and issues through comprehensive data collection and analysis. A community health improvement plan is a long-term effort to address public health problems based on the results of community health assessment activities and the community health improvement process.
Assessment is part of an ongoing broader community health improvement process. A community health improvement process uses CHA data to identify priority issues, develop and implement strategies for action, and establish accountability to ensure measurable health improvement.
Models for community health improvement describe a continuous cycle of community health improvement with steps like these:
- Assess Needs & Resources
- Focus on What’s Important
- Choose Effective Policies and Programs
- Act on What’s Important
- Evaluate Actions
Planning takes into account different factors related to health outcomes. Social determinants of health (SDOH) are the conditions in the environments where people are born, live, learn, work, play, worship, and age that affect a wide range of health, functioning, and quality-of-life outcomes and risks.
Learn more about the social determinates of health