Explore the Toolkit Steps
Resources for the Community Health Assessment Toolkit
Explore this curated set of action resources from leading organizations to support and assist you during your community needs assessment process. The resources are classified into content-based categories and will be updated periodically as additional tools are identified.
To explore said Step, simply click on the “Go To Step #” button on the top of the “Step” section.
Practical Applications: Case Studies | Supplements
Develop Your CHA
STEP 1: Map Your CHA Development Process
Community Commons: Community Health Needs Assessment Tool
Framework: Platform to help hospitals identify health needs and conduct measurable improvements.
Community Preventive Services Task Force: The Guide to Community Preventive Services
Collection of tools such as case studies, fact sheets, evaluations and templates to help collect data and implement prevention strategies
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality: Prevention Quality Indicator Measures
Framework: Resources to help identify potential health care quality problems in the community
Catholic Health Association: Assessing and Addressing Community Health Needs Framework
Framework: Overview of required and recommended steps for assessing community health needs and developing implementation strategies
Health Equity-Oriented Strategy Selection, Design, and Implementation
Guided actions and reflection questionnaire to guide your health equity strategy, design, and development process
STEP 2: Identify Stakeholders and Build Trusting Relationships
Health Research & Educational Trust: Asset Mapping Template
Asset Mapping Asset mapping template to help answer key questions about the community and hospital
Community Asset Mapping as a Method to Foster Social Inclusion
Case study reflecting on the use of CAM and CEPAR actions to foster social inclusion
STEP 3: Develop a Community Health Profile
Public Health Institute: Supporting Alignment and Accountability in Community Health Improvement
Framework Report that examines the community health assessments and implementation strategies of tax-exempt hospitals with a focus on how community is defined
STEP 4: Deepen Understanding and Increase Equity Through Data
University of Wisconsin: Area Deprivation Index
National health data set that factors for the theoretical domains of income, education, employment, and housing quality. It can be used to inform health delivery and policy, especially for the most disadvantaged neighborhood groups.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Community Health Status Indicators
National health data set
Community Commons: Vulnerable Population Footprint
Community Commons: Vulnerable Population Footprint
Community Tool Box: Conducting Needs Assessment Surveys
Data Collection Tools: Detailed processes of survey development and execution, and type of data to collect
PolicyLink: Community-Based Participatory Research: A Strategy for Building Healthy Communities and Promoting Health through Policy Change
Framework, resources, and case study for community-based participatory research
Dignity Health: Community Need Index
National health data set
CDC/ATSDR Social Vulnerability Index (CDC/ATSDR SVI): Uses
Interactive map that 16 U.S. census variables to help local officials identify communities that may need support before, during, or after disasters.
Neighborhood Atlas
Interactive map showing measures of neighborhood disadvantage with the public, including educational institutions, health systems, not-for-profit organizations, and government agencies
Effective Data Visualization: The Right Chart for the Right Data 2ND Edition
Data Presentation Tools: Book on the importance of captivating readers with interactive methods of displaying qualitative data
Health Research & Educational Trust/Association for Community Health Improvement: Applying Research Principles to the Community Health Needs Assessment Process
Report identifying tools and research principles to support CHAs, including patient- and community-centered practices and evidence-based resources to integrate into data collection during the CHA process
Health Research & Educational/Trust/Association for Community Health Improvement: Engaging Patients and Communities in the Community Health Needs Assessment Process
Report that highlights ways patients and communities can be involved in the development of their hospital’s CHA
United States Census Bureau – American FactFinder
National health data set
United States Department of Health & Human Services: HealthData
Data Sets – National health data set
County Health Rankings & Roadmaps: Measures & Data Sources
Framework Description of health-related factors in a community that can be identified and improved to establish the highest potential of health and well-being
County Health Rankings & Roadmaps: Health Indicators
Framework for collecting information based on health indicators reflecting the health of a community
RECoDE (Rising Equitable Community Data Ecosystems) Framework for building equity-centered community data ecosystems
Charting a Course for an Equity-Centered Data System
STEP 5: Prioritize Community Health Needs and Assets
Community Commons: Kaiser Permanente Community Health Needs Assessment Platform
Kaiser Permanente’s platform for community health assessments
Public Health Ontario Partners for Health Priority Setting Checklist
A priority-setting checklist tool based on evidence-informed decision making. The checklist was developed as a supplementary tool to the U.S. Agency for Healthcare Quality and Research’s Will It Work Here: A Decision-Makers Guide to Adopting Innovations. The checklist prompts users to provide a response of “Definitely yes,” “Somewhat,” “Definitely not” or “Don’t know.”
Priority Setting Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis
A comprehensive process for decision making that advocates for a multi-criteria approach to increase fairness, rationality and transparency in decision making.
Ontario Local Health Integration Network: Priority Setting & Decision Making Framework Toolkit
Toolkit provides a framework for priority-setting and decision-making processes for public health practitioners. The framework consists of a four-step process for priority-setting and decision-making, along with an evaluation tool to weigh priorities
Methods and Tools for Priority-Setting for Health Authorities
A list of resources to assist in priority-setting. Framed by the WHO’s handbook on priority-setting, this list includes resources to support conducting a situational assessment, communication and the overall priority setting process.
Minnesota Department of Health Prioritization Matrix
Prioritization matrix template that systematically compares choices through the selection, weighing, and application of criteria.
Institute for Healthcare Improvement – Health Equity: Prioritization, Perception, and Progress
Progress report that illustrates existing health equity actions and perceptions from health care professional in the United States
STEP 6: Document and Communicate the Results
Data Therapy: How to Make a Data Mural
Framework for developing a data mural to show community impact
Public Health Foundation: Planning Before You Communicate Tool
Tool to help with designing consistent and clear communications both internally and externally
S.D.H. Evergreen: Effective Data Visualization: The Right Chart for the Right Data
Book on the importance of captivating readers with interactive methods of displaying qualitative data
S.D.H Evergreen: Presenting Data Effectively: Communicating Your Findings for Maximum Impact
Book that offers guiding principles on how to effectively present data
CDC Health Equity Guiding Principles for Inclusive Communication
Guiding principles fact sheet provide principles, resources, and specific communication strategies to address all people inclusively and respectfully, adapting to the specific cultural, linguistic, and more.
Implement and Evaluate Your CHA
STEP 7: Plan Strategies to Accelerate Health Equity
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: 6I18 Initiative
Initiative focusing on the implementation of 18 evidence-based interventions that target six high-burden conditions
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Community Health Improvement Navigator
An interactive database of interventions to address socioeconomic factors, the physical environment, health behaviors and clinical care
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Health Impact Assessment
Overview of health impact assessments, including links to resources
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Health Impact in 5 Years (HI-5)
Strategies for achieving health impact in five years.
Collaboration for Impact: The Collective Impact Framework
Approach that highlights the importance of building a greater impact on the community’s health through collaboration
Community Preventive Services Task Force: The Guide to Community Preventive Services
Framework: Collection of tools such as case studies, fact sheets, evaluations and templates to help collect data and implement prevention strategies
Human Impact Partners/Group Health Research Institute: Community Participation in Health Impact Assessments
Data related to community participation in the United States-based practice of Health Impact Assessment (HIA)
Human Impact Partners: CA Health Impact Assessment Toolkit: A Handbook to Conducting HIA, 3rd Edition
Information related to community participation in health impact assessments
National Research Council: Improving Health in the United States: The Role of Health Impact Assessment
Publication that provides guidance on conducting health impact assessments
T.R. Frieden: The Health Impact Pyramid
Framework that describes the impact of incorporating different public health interventions based on community needs
Public Health Foundation: Community Stakeholder Services Map
Tool that assists with identifying services affiliated with a community health issue
Public Health Foundation: Population Health Driver Diagram Framework
Tool that helps identify primary and secondary drivers of an identified community health objective and serves as a framework for encouraging health care and public health sectors to collaborate and align community health efforts or interventions
Society of Practitioners of Health Impact Assessment: Health Impact Assessment Guidance and Tools
Resources and tools to develop health impact assessments
County Health Rankings & Roadmaps: What Works for Health
Provides information to help select and implement evidence-informed policies, programs and system changes
STEP 8: Jointly Develop an Action Plan
South Dakota Department of Health: Community Toolkit
Core process steps provide a broad view of community health needs assessment and health improvement planning actions
STEP 9: Evaluate Progress
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Framework for Program Evaluation
Evaluation Tool: summarizes and organizes steps and standards for effective program evaluation
Institute for Healthcare Improvement: Plan-Do-Study-Act
Evaluation Tools Framework to guide improvement work
Catholic Health Association: Evaluating Your Community Benefit Impact
Evaluation Tools Resource to help community benefit leaders evaluate the quality and importance of their community benefit programs and report and use findings
Racial Equity Tools: How Can We Assess Our Community and Implement an Assessment Process?
Tip sheet offering tactical steps to support community asset mapping implementation process
Key Definitions
Community health assessment is a systematic process of collaboration between hospitals, public health departments, other social service agencies and their communities to identify and analyze community health needs and resources, prioritize needs and implement a plan to address significant unmet needs.
Community health needs assessment is a regulation of the Internal Revenue Service with specific requirements. Upon completion, a CHNA can provide a structured narrative about how a health care organization is benefiting the community. Read about the American Hospital Association’s review of the IRS’s final rules for CHNAs.
Health equity means that everyone has a fair and just opportunity achieve optimal health. This requires removing obstacles to health such as poverty and discrimination and their consequences, including powerlessness and lack of access to good jobs with fair pay, quality education and housing, safe environments and health care.
Quantitative data is numerical population data that can establish a benchmark for health indicators and conditions.
Qualitative data is descriptive data based on opinions and perceptions that can illustrate how people think or feel. It is typically gathered from interviews, focus groups, participatory action research, or town hall meetings.
If you would like to submit a technical assistance tool for consideration, please email it to ACHI@aha.org with "CHA Toolkit Resources" in the subject line.