BATON ROUGE, LA — August 28, 2018 — Today, Mayor-President Sharon Weston Broome unveiled the 2018 Community Health Needs Assessment (CHNA). Under her leadership, the five major hospitals in East Baton Rouge Parish developed the nation’s only joint CHNA and joint Community Health Implementation Plan (CHIP). This document identifies the health priorities for the parish and calls out the significant community health needs that the Mayor’s Healthy City Initiative, HealthyBR, will focus on for the next three years.
A CHNA is a strategic plan evaluating the health of a community and a requirement of tax-exempt hospitals. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA), enacted on March 23, 2010, is the federal legislation that requires tax-exempt hospitals to create a CHNA every three years in order to preserve their tax-exempt status.
“HealthyBR is now in a pivotal position to improve the health and well-being of residents through a renewed focus on the key drivers of population health in Baton Rouge,” said Mayor Broome. “The 2018 joint CHNA and joint implementation plan incorporate shared goals to target the social determinants of health in our city, which serve as the tipping point for systemic change. Working together, we will continue to make our city a healthier place for all.”
HealthyBR convened a CHNA workgroup to identify the top 10 community health needs in the parish. The group consisted of representatives from Baton Rouge General Medical Center, Lane Regional Medical Center, Ochsner Health System, Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center, Woman’s Hospital, Pennington Biomedical Research Center, Baton Rouge Area Chamber, Baton Rouge Health District, Louisiana Public Health Institute, East Baton Rouge Parish Library, and the HIV/AIDS Alliance for Region 2 (HAART). This group collected data from more than 30 local and national sources to determine the top 10 community health needs.
HealthyBR hosted its “Baton Rouge Vision of Health 2021” event on November 1, 2017. Subject matter experts presented information on the top ten community health needs to over 100 representatives from various health organizations. Participants voted on the top four significant community health needs for the parish. Following this event, MedBR (HealthyBR’s Internal Medical Group) also met to vote on the top four significant community health needs.
Finally, in partnership with the East Baton Rouge Parish Library, a survey was administered to over 500 citizens from every zip code in the parish. They ranked the top ten community health needs in East Baton Rouge Parish.
Following this engagement process, MedBR representatives met again to finalize the significant health needs based on the findings from all three processes. The top four significant community health needs include access to care, behavioral health, healthy living, and sexually transmitted infections/HIV.
HealthyBR will work to create an implementation plan which will be uploaded to the HealthyBR website and regularly updated.
To review the 2018 CHNA, visit http://www.healthybr.com/be-smart/community-health-needs-assessment/.
About Healthy BR
HealthyBR brings together more than 90 hospitals, non-profit organizations, local businesses, schools, and governmental institutions that collaborate to significantly impact Baton Rouge’s health priorities. Their success in bringing together key stakeholders to work toward common goals designed to make Baton Rouge a healthier city for all is a shining example of population health management. HealthyBR serves as a best practice model for other cities, has been recognized with the American Hospital Association’s prestigious NOVA award, and participates in the National League of Cities’ Learning Collaborative on Health Disparities. Visit www.healthybr.com to learn more.