title: The Progress of US Hospitals in Addressing Community Health Needs.
abstract: To identify how US tax-exempt hospitals are progressing in regard to community health needs assessment (CHNA) implementation following the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.
  
  
  
  We analyzed data on more than 1500 tax-exempt hospitals in 2013 to assess patterns in CHNA implementation and to determine whether a hospital's institutional and community characteristics are associated with greater progress.
  
  
  
  Our findings show wide variation among hospitals in CHNA implementation. Hospitals operating as part of a health system as well as hospitals participating in a Medicare accountable care organization showed greater progress in CHNA implementation whereas hospitals serving a greater proportion of uninsured showed less progress. We also found that hospitals reporting the highest level of CHNA implementation progress spent more on community health improvement.
  
  
  
  Hospitals widely embraced the regulations to perform a CHNA. Less is known about how hospitals are moving forward to improve population health through the implementation of programs to meet identified community needs.
authors.affiliation: Geri Rosen Cramer, Stephen Flaherty, and Gary J. Young are with the Bouvé College of Health Sciences and the Center for Health Policy and Healthcare Research at Northeastern University, Boston, MA. Gary J. Young is also with the D'Amore-McKim School of Business, Northeastern University. Simone R. Singh is with the Department of Health Management and Policy, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
authors.forename: Geri Rosen
authors.initials: GR
authors.lastname: Cramer
authors.affiliation: Geri Rosen Cramer, Stephen Flaherty, and Gary J. Young are with the Bouvé College of Health Sciences and the Center for Health Policy and Healthcare Research at Northeastern University, Boston, MA. Gary J. Young is also with the D'Amore-McKim School of Business, Northeastern University. Simone R. Singh is with the Department of Health Management and Policy, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
authors.forename: Simone R
authors.initials: SR
authors.lastname: Singh
authors.affiliation: Geri Rosen Cramer, Stephen Flaherty, and Gary J. Young are with the Bouvé College of Health Sciences and the Center for Health Policy and Healthcare Research at Northeastern University, Boston, MA. Gary J. Young is also with the D'Amore-McKim School of Business, Northeastern University. Simone R. Singh is with the Department of Health Management and Policy, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
authors.forename: Stephen
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Flaherty
authors.affiliation: Geri Rosen Cramer, Stephen Flaherty, and Gary J. Young are with the Bouvé College of Health Sciences and the Center for Health Policy and Healthcare Research at Northeastern University, Boston, MA. Gary J. Young is also with the D'Amore-McKim School of Business, Northeastern University. Simone R. Singh is with the Department of Health Management and Policy, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
authors.forename: Gary J
authors.initials: GJ
authors.lastname: Young
mesh_terms: D018672:Community Health Planning / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence / Q000458:organization & administration*; D003153:Community Health Services / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence / Q000458:organization & administration*; D003159:Community-Institutional Relations / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D003299:Cooperative Behavior; D006292:Health Priorities; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand; D006788:Hospitals, Voluntary / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence / Q000458:organization & administration; D006801:Humans; D020380:Needs Assessment / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence / Q000458:organization & administration*; D058991:Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act; D014481:United States