Community Health Improvement

HRiA’s community health improvement approach is:

• Centered on health equity, ensuring that assessment and planning results incorporate a health equity lens, are inclusive, meaningful, and take into consideration the social determinants of health. (Learn more about our Health Equity Framework.)
• Asset based. Incorporates and builds upon the resources and opportunities that exist in the people and places in the region.
• Participatory and transparent. Our process engages diverse stakeholders through multiple communication pathways to ensure community support.
• Data informed. Our sophisticated combination of research techniques includes both quantitative and qualitative data collection methods.
• Informed by community needs. Written assessment report or plan that takes into account conditions that affect health outcomes and identifies issues that are actionable for change.
• Designed for sustainability and impact. We offer technical assistance and support throughout the implementation process and provide the necessary tools and expertise to our clients to ensure that community health improvement projects are sustainable and achieve their intended impact.

Our flexible and customizable services provide our clients with a spectrum of support, from addressing urgent needs to maximizing community investments over time, embedding our experience in community health,  health equity  and social determinants of health (SDOH) throughout the process. Partnering with HRiA allows your organization to tap into our broad and deep expertise.

HRiA offers clients an understanding of what is happening in the field nationally and lessons learned in other communities. HRiA’s assessment and planning services help hospitals meet their IRS 990 requirements, health departments earn accreditation, and foundations guide their investment strategy. Our team uses rigorous qualitative and quantitative methods to understand a community’s assets, challenges and experiences. Strategic engagement of partners and the broader community builds the capacity of clients and their collaborators to create long term and sustainable impacts on health. HRiA offers clients unique insight into the current trends and best practices taking place nationally and in other communities, as well as lessons learned.

The prioritization process is designed to elicit priority areas of focus from the key themes that emerge from your assessment data.  HRiA offers both in-person and virtual planning options to take your organization through the development of goals, objectives and strategies for your identified priority areas.  This process is inclusive, comprehensive and designed to engage stakeholders and meet PHAB and IRS requirements.

It is critical that any plan developed includes annual action plans for practical implementation and to provide a living roadmap to guide sustainable and achievable organizational efforts.

HRiA staff works with clients to develop targeted action plans for each year of your planning cycle, that address the key components required to implement, monitor, adjust, and evaluate the priority goals, objectives, and strategies in a multi-year plan.  Action planning includes the specific steps needed to achieve strategies, while making sure that there are identified leaders, partners, timelines and resources to support this work and track progress to ensure accountability and report your successes and achievements to stakeholders and funders.  HRiA provides technical assistance to support ongoing implementation efforts and ensure the sustainability of your plan, including coaching of leaders and teams; development of governance and working group structures; facilitation of key meetings; consensus-building, problem-solving, and community engagement.

Documenting and sharing the progress and impact of community health improvement efforts supports the implementation, aids in meeting reporting requirements and adds to communication and transparency efforts.  HRiA works with clients to develop processes and tools for the monitoring and evaluation activities of any effort.  Staff bring an expertise in participatory approaches, dashboards, an array of qualitative and quantitative methods for data collection and analysis, rigorous impact evaluation and various frameworks include Equitable Evaluation.

HRiA has partnered with many different stakeholders to develop high-quality community health assessments, community health improvement plans, and strategic implementation plans. Our expertise includes work with acute care hospitals and academic medical centers, health departments, community collaboratives, federally qualified health centers, and specialty institutions, like cancer centers.

Table of Example Clients & Projects

Client (State)	Type of Client	Assessment	Plan
CT State/DPH	State Health Dept	X	X
Collaborative of Boston Teaching Hospitals (MA) Boston CHNA/CHIP Collaborative	Hospital system	X	X
St. Alphonsus (ID/OR)	Mid-sized hospital system	X
Dot House (MA)	FQHC	X	X
Office of Women’s Health, Health & Human Services (MT/ND)	Federal agency	X
Austin Public Health/Travis County (TX)	County health department	X	X
Cape Cod Health Care (MA)	Hospital	X	X
City of Issaquah (WA)	City health department	X
Jefferson Regional Health Alliance (OR)	Regional health collaborative	X	X
St. Jude (TN)	Specialty hospital/ Cancer institution	X
Dana Farber Cancer Institute (MA)	Cancer institution	X	X
Andover/North Andover (MA)	Local health department	X	X
Nicklaus Children’s Hospital (FL)	Specialty hospital	X	X
Codman Square Health Center (MA)	FQHC	X	X
Boston Public Health Commission (MA)	Local health department	X	X

Publications

• CHI Process Evaluation
• Beyond compliance: Maximizing investment in community benefit implementation strategy
• FAST
• Community Investment Tax Credit Program Health Impact Assessment
• Embracing Equity in Community Health Improvement: Policy & Practice Report
• Community Health Improvement Reports
• Case Study: Andover/North Andover Joint Community Health Assessment and Plan (CHA/CHIP)

Tools & Webinars

• Community Health Improvement Toolkit
• Community Health Improvement Navigator
• Health Impact Assessment Training Series
• Life after the CHIP Measuring Success: data, reporting, and accountability
• Health Impact Assessments for Community Development Corporations

Blog posts

• Hospitals in Community Partnerships for Community Health Improvement: What’s Working
• Hospital Investments in Community Health: Creating Impact in a New Environment
• HRiA’s FAST Strategic Planning Process: Maximizing Impact, Engagement, and Efficiency
• Using the FAST Approach to Enhance the Worksite Wellness Council of Massachusetts
• Embracing Equity in Community Health Improvement: HRiA’s New Policy & Practice Report
• Engaging Communities as Experts throughout the Assessment Process
• The Full Frame: Widening the Lens on Community Health
• Collaborating for Health: Addressing Youth Mental Health through the Community Health Improvement Process