Community Hospital Corporation (CHC) will assist substantially more not-for-profit hospitals with Community Health Needs Assessments (CHNAs) and implementation plans this year.
CHC expects a significant increase this year over the previous two years because many CHC client hospitals are due to complete their CHNA in 2022. Another factor driving CHC’s CHNA increase is that hospitals are more likely to outsource the work this year because of the pandemic’s impact on their operations.
A CHNA is a study of a hospital’s community that focuses on specific health and social needs that could have a major impact on the community’s health.
The federal government’s Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act requires not-for-profits to submit CHNAs once every three years in order to maintain their tax-exempt status. The deadline to submit a CHNA is the last day of a hospital’s taxable year, although industry trade groups have recently requested the government to grant an extension for facilities with difficulty meeting the deadline due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
For nearly a year, hospitals have been forced to shift their operational priorities in order to meet the challenges of providing care to patients infected with COVID-19 and other health-related problems. That has resulted in hospitals having less time and fewer internal resources to commit to non-pandemic activities like CHNAs.
CHC is fully prepared to offer its assistance to hospitals struggling to complete a CHNA and develop plans to improve healthcare for their communities. CHC has conducted more than 100 compliant CHNAs and implementation plans across many states for community health centers and critical access hospitals to specialty hospitals, regional studies and large multi-hospital systems.
CHC Vice President of Planning Lisette Hudson commented: “Hospitals are stretched very thin as their primary focus is providing the best quality care possible to their patients during this unprecedented public health crisis. Many smaller community hospitals may be hard-pressed to complete and submit CHNAs in a timely manner, as their operations are almost entirely directed toward overcoming the challenges of the pandemic. CHC understands their predicament and can relieve them of this complicated and time-consuming task by offering our years of experience and expertise in handling the CHNA process.”
Mary Poole, director of Public Relations at Baptist Hospitals of Southeast Texas-Beaumont shared: “CHC has been instrumental in creating and implementing our highly effective community needs assessment. Beyond a roadmap, this document helps with our education, grant writing and philanthropic efforts.”
About Community Hospital Corporation-HELP WHERE HOSPITALS NEED IT®
Community Hospital Corporation owns, manages and consults with hospitals through CHC Hospitals, CHC Consulting and CHC ContinueCARE, with the common purpose to guide, support and enhance the mission of community hospitals and healthcare providers. Based in Plano, Texas, CHC provides the resources and experience community hospitals need to improve quality outcomes, patient satisfaction and financial performance.