Improving Community Health: Community Health Needs Assessment and Community Health Improvement Plan

Our Priorities

• Mental Health
• Care Coordination
• Health Literacy 
• Place-Based Care

Our Activities

• Community Health Needs Assessment (CHNA) (PDF): Our systematic review of the health issues facing a population that serve as a foundation for our community health improvement efforts.
• Community Health Improvement Plan (CHIP) (PDF): Our roadmap for action includes policy and system-level actions that can make a positive difference in our four priority areas (mental health, care coordination, health literacy and place-based care).
• DCHealthMatters.org: Our web portal offers providers, partners and residents with data and resources to advance health equity.
• DC Health Matters Connect: Our online resources directory helps providers and residents search and connect with an array of free and reduced cost social service programs.
• Policy Agenda: Our advocacy plan drives citywide, legislative and regulatory actions related to our CHNA findings, CHIP strategies and equity goals.
• Community Convenings: Our approach brings together diverse stakeholders to share strategies and solutions to improve health equity in the District of Columbia.

Our Impact

"The power of our collaborative is the collective voice of eight organizations. We approach our collaborative, not as an obligation, but as opportunity to build strong, lasting relationships that can improve health equity for all residents."

– Julia DeAngelo, Children’s National Hospital, DC Health Matters Collaborative Chair

Support on fulfilling the Affordable Care Act requirements brings value to our small organization, in addition to forums where we can coordinate with our healthcare community and set priorities.

• Through our collaboration of diverse organizations, we have completed three assessments in 2013, 2016 and 2019 that respond to a regulatory requirement in a unique way that benefits each member organization
• These assessments drive community impact and investment – showing how hospitals and health centers are investing in the community broadly through housing and other social determinants of health
• Improved reputation in the community

The Collaborative dedicates resources to support the DCHealthMatters.org data portal and the DC Health Matters Connect community resource platform.

• DC Health Matters Connect: Top searches by zip code are tracked allowing for collective advocacy and resource allocation.
• Both websites are easy to navigate and are regularly updated. They are a quick method for sharing information to broad stakeholders.
• They promote opportunities to highlight our own programs and report on progress towards shared outcomes.
• Population health data on DCHealthMatters.org have been utilized for public testimony, grant writing and research publications.

The community convenings, advocacy activities, website and social media platforms allow many staff to be involved in promoting health outside of their usual tasks, providing unique professional development and advocacy opportunities that had limited time commitments.

Our impact includes:

• Amplifying conversations around current and emerging community health challenges  
• Collective advocacy extending the capacity of government affairs/relations staff 
• Providing unique opportunities for providers to engage in professional development
• Coordinating on emergency preparedness challenges and crisis response
• Building relationships and securing funding to improve health equity