VHA, HCI partner for community health assessments

Texas-based nonprofit hospital system VHA Inc., just inked a deal with California's Healthy Communities Institute (HCI) to make the latter's web-based Community Health Needs Assessment (CHNA) System available to its 1,400 member hospitals nationwide.

CHNA tracks community health metrics and allows members to share best practices, and even find new funding sources, according to HCI officials. The system provides community-based dashboard indicators, such as mortality rates, illness patterns, air and water quality data, and more.

It also offers a "promising practices" module that can alert VHA members to other community-based hospitals that have tackled problems like childhood obesity, including contact information, details on successful strategies, and results data, according to company officials. 

VHA hospitals can use the system to satisfy new IRS requirements requirements for not-for-profit hospitals--finalized in the healthcare reform law--for formal community health needs assessments, says Michael Regier, senior VP for legal and corporate affairs at VHA. "HCI's system will give our members a state-of-the-art tool that should enable them to strengthen their evidence-based community benefit programs while meeting or exceeding the new standards," he says.

To learn more:
- check out this joint press release

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