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Evaluate Your Progress to Date on Past Health Priorities

An important new part of the IRS requirements is to evaluate the impact of the actions you took to address the significant health needs from your previous CHNA report. Evaluating the outcomes and impacts of these actions will help you assess how to best prioritize health needs moving forward.

Option 1: No Existing Evaluation Framework

If you didn't create an evaluation framework to assess progress you have made on prioritized health needs in your previous CHNA & Implementation Strategy, don't worry. This component was not required by the IRS prior to the most recent 2014 guidelines. Have a look at the Build a Plan and Evaluation Framework tab in the Design section of this guide to see examples of indicators and outcomes that you should reference when assessing the progress you have made on significant health needs identified in your previous CHNA.

You can also use the Build a Plan and Evaluation Framework section to ensure you can easily track the progress you will make on the health priorities that you choose to address in your current CHNA cycle.

See our sample evaluation framework

Important Note for Hospitals:
While you do not have to submit your evaluation framework to the IRS, in your next CHNA cycle you DO have to report your progress on the priority health needs you addressed in your Implementation Strategy. Creating an evaluation framework will make it much easier for you to clearly identify that progress in your next CHNA.

Option 2: Have an Existing Evaluation Framework

You can use your existing evaluation framework to assess the progress you have made on the health needs you chose to address in your last Implementation Strategy.

Tips for the Final Report

In your CHNA, incorporate any data you may have on the outputs, targets, and outcomes associated with each health need you chose to address in your immediately preceding CHNA & Implementation Strategy. This information can be used to help assess which health needs you choose to address in your next CHNA and Implementation Strategy. For example, if you notice that the actions you took to address a particular health need seem to have had a limited impact on improving health outcomes, you may want to choose to address that health need utilizing a different program or promising practice.

From the IRS

An evaluation of the impact of any actions that were taken, since the hospital facility finished conducting its immediately preceding CHNA, to address the significant health needs identified in the hospital facility's prior CHNA(s).

IRS Community Health Needs Assessment Rule 12/31/14

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