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Cuyahoga County Community Health Needs Assessment Released

Hospitals, public health agencies and other partner organizations in the community announce the release of the collaborative 2022 Cuyahoga County Community Health Needs Assessment (CHNA). The assessment gives Cuyahoga County stakeholders the opportunity to understand the most significant community needs, informing subsequent health improvement planning.

“We are so pleased to be a part of this process of bringing together hospitals with public health and other partners in this important work,” said Brian Lane, president & CEO of The Center for Health Affairs and CHAMPS. “This collaborative process makes community health assessments both more efficient and more effective in making an impact. This is the third collaborative assessment in the county and will serve as the foundation for the planning and implementation of activities aimed at improving community health over the next three years.”

The findings of this report are the product of a process facilitated by Conduent Healthy Communities Institute that began with collection and analysis of local data and incorporated other local, regional, state, and national data sources where possible. Additionally, qualitative data was collected through 32 key informant interviews, as well as three separate focus group discussions to gather community input. To better target and understand Cuyahoga County’s most pressing needs, a total of 118 community members and leaders participated in community conversations to discuss need prioritization.

The findings of the CHNA bring into focus the foundational issues impacting the health of Cuyahoga County residents. The three priority areas identified in the assessment are:

1. Behavioral Health (Mental Health & Drug Use/Misuse)
2. Accessible and Affordable Healthcare
3. Community Conditions (Access to Healthy Food & Community Safety)

Eliminating structural racism and enhancing trust across sectors, people, and communities, will continue to be overarching areas for work in Cuyahoga County. These priorities will inform the design of the community health improvement plan and implementation strategies for 2023-2025. The implementation plan and strategies will be developed and used by hospitals, public health departments, and other community partners to set priorities and to coordinate resources for improving health outcomes in Cuyahoga County.

Both public health departments and nonprofit hospitals are required to evaluate community health needs every three years. Due to the shared service area of Cuyahoga County, cross-sector collaboration is permitted, promoting a more efficient use of resources.

“Throughout the history of our community health assessment and health improvement planning efforts, we have collaborated with local hospitals as well as a diverse group of individuals and organizations, from the grassroots level to key decision-makers,” said Martha Halko, MS, RD, LD, director of population health, Cuyahoga County Board of Health. “Together, we continue to illuminate long-standing inequities and collectively work to address the systemic and structural issues that adversely impact the health of our county and its communities. Ensuring that everyone in our county has the opportunity to achieve their fullest health potential remains a central focus for all of us.”

Key partners across Cuyahoga County played an important role in collaborating to conduct the 2022 assessment, including the Cleveland Clinic, the Cleveland Department of Public Health, Cuyahoga County Board of Health, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, The MetroHealth System, Southwest General Health System, St. Vincent Charity Medical Center, The Center for Health Affairs and University Hospitals.

This process and the corresponding assessment are the outcome of a collaboration between Better Health Partnership, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, the Cleveland Department of Public Health, the Cuyahoga County Board of Health, the Health Improvement Partnership-Cuyahoga (HIP-Cuyahoga), PolicyBridge, Southwest General Health Center, St. Vincent Charity Medical Center, The Center for Health Affairs, The MetroHealth System, United Way of Greater Cleveland, and University Hospitals. This collaborative report was made possible through the funding support of the HealthComp Foundation in Cleveland, Ohio, in addition to financial contributions from public health and hospital partners.