Community Health Needs Assessments (CHNA) RequirementsThe Community Health Needs Assessment is a provision of the Affordable Care Act. It is a requirement for all non-profit, non-governmental hospitals that file IRS Form 990; it is a public document that must be posted on a hospital’s website.
The CHNA requirements become effective starting with the first tax year beginning after March 23, 2012, and must be filed every three years.
Specific community healthcare needs and how the hospital is meeting them must be identified by the CHNA. The hospital must also develop action plans to meet the needs of the community, monitor them and report progress on their implementation.
HHS awards nearly $100 million in grants for public health and prevention priorities(From the hhs.gov website)The Affordable Care Act’s Prevention and Public Health Fund grants will support state and community efforts to fight obesity, increase HIV testing, promote tobacco quit lines, expand mental health and substance abuse programs and track, monitor and respond to disease outbreaks
$9.3 million in support of obesity biometric efforts
Six communities - all of which were part of the original 44 Communities Putting Prevention to Work (CPPW) communities funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) will divide $9.3 million in support of obesity efforts to examine change in community-level variables (such as change in use of cafeteria foods), and body mass index and related biometric measures.
“These new evaluation funds will help our country identify effective and promising obesity prevention strategies. This funding will evaluate community-level obesity prevention initiatives aimed at creating healthy environments that promote nutrition and physical activity in the places where adults and children work, eat, study and play,” said Dr. Rebecca Bunnell, the program director for the Communities Putting Prevention to Work initiative at CDC. “Preventing obesity is critical for our nation’s future and we need to make sure we are investing every obesity prevention dollar wisely.”