Making the most of community health planning in Ohio

Authors: Reem Aly (Health Policy Institute of Ohio)

Under a changing policy landscape, hospitals and local health departments (LHDs) can play a critical role in aligning and leveraging community health planning activities across the state to improve the health of Ohioans. New rules require hospitals and LHDs collaborate with organizations within their community to prioritize their community’s health needs, and develop plans and implement strategies to address those needs. The HPIO brief reviews current community health planning requirements for hospitals and LHDs, presents initial findings from a study of hospital and LHD community health planning documents and identifies opportunities for increasing the effectiveness of community health planning processes in Ohio.