Provisions in the Affordable Care Act (ACA) require charitable hospitals to conduct a Community Health Needs Assessment (CHNA) and adopt an Implementation Plan to meet the needs identified through the CHNA. The CHNA is a systematic process involving the community to identify and analyze community health needs as well as community assets and resources in order to plan and act upon priority community health needs. This assessment process results in a CHNA report which is used to plan, implement, and evaluate community benefit activities. Once the CHNA report is completed, a set of implementation strategies is developed based on the evidence and assets and resources identified in the CHNA process.
Every three years, the affiliated hospitals of HSHS are required to conduct a CHNA and to adopt an implementation plan by an authorized body of the hospital in the same taxable year, and make the report widely available to the public.