N493-DQ2

Foster G. McGaw Prize for Excellence in Community Service 1

Children’s National Health System Washington, D.C.

L ocated in Washington D.C., Children’s National Health System has seven regional outpatient centers, an ambulatory surgery center, two emergency rooms and an acute care hospital. Children’s National leads many community-based initiatives and collaborations to advance community health.

Children’s National was the lead organization in conducting a 2016 community health assessment (CHA) on behalf of the DC Healthy Communities Collaborative (DCHCC), a coalition of eight hospitals and community health centers that have partnered to improve health and well- being in Washington, D.C. For the 2016 CHA, Children’s National shifted the focus from disease- specific conditions to root causes and determinants of health. The CHA process revealed nine broad, community-defined health needs. For its prioritization process, the team adopted the Hanlon Method, a framework to select priority needs. Various stakeholders and collaborators developed a modified version of the Hanlon Method, which included a criteria and weighting system that was aligned with organizational mission, capacity to address change and existing resources. A new weighting system was created based on DCHCC’s capabilities, resources and funding to address the health needs. The criteria and weighting system used to prioritize needs was:

� Importance to community—40% � Capacity to address change—25% � Alignment with mission/vision—25% � Existing collaborations or interventions—10%

Four priority needs were selected through this process: mental health, place-based care, care coordination and health literacy.

According to Chaya Merrill, director, Child Health Data Lab at Children’s National, “It’s important to be transparent when prioritizing health needs. A barrier in this process is subjectivity. We want the prioritization process to be as objective as possible. However, there will undoubtedly always be a subjective element. Using a structured prioritization method helps minimize the subjective elements and offers a more structured process at arriving at priorities.”

Recommendations to make this process more effective are:

� Be transparent in your approach. � Know your hospital’s capacity and resources when selecting priority needs. � Be aware of the community organizations that are already addressing the needs your hospital identified to avoid overlap and form potential partnerships.

View Children’s National Health System’s community health assessment here.

Contact: Chaya Merrill, Dr.P.H. Director Child Health Data Lab at Children’s National Health System (202) 573-1834 [email protected]