Collaborative practice model for community health assessment

In response to the implementation of the Personal Responsibility and Affordable Care Act of 2010, a community-university partnership was established to examine a county through a comprehensive community health assessment and to develop a three-year strategic plan. A six-member leadership team representing the community hospital, local health department, and regional university collected data from January through December, 2012. The leadership team convened a meeting with 43 key stakeholders to identify community health best practices. To gain input from residents, the team conducted 10 focus groups (N=86) and gathered survey results from 1,368 community residents to assess health behaviors and attitudes. In addition, secondary data from over 20 local, state, and national sources were used to determine priority needs. Analyses identified community strengths and critical social and health indicators. Strengths included numersous community resources, including community support, connectedness, and good location to live and raise a family. The primary social indicators were poverty, crime, and health literacy. The primary health indicators were lack of access to care, lack of mental health, obesity, heart disease, cancer, and sexually transmitted infections. A key finding was that stakeholders approached health care from a proactive perspective, with an emphasis on prevention, whereas focus group participants approached health care from a reactive perspective, with an emphasis on safety net programs. The community-university collaborative model shared human and financial resources to conduct the community health assessment. A collaborative community strategic plan will be developed. Consequently, systems-level strategies in research, education, and practice will be provided.