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Community Health Improvement Planning

A Community Health Improvement Plan (CHIP) is a long-term, systematic effort to address health problems based on the results of a community health needs assessment and the community health improvement planning process.  A plan is typically updated every three to five years. We’ve been listening and learning to the needs of our residents, and the future is bright for public health in Natrona County.

The Public Health Accreditation Board defines a community health improvement plan as a long-term, systematic effort to address public health problems on the basis of the results of community health assessment activities and the community health improvement process. This plan is used by health and other governmental education and human service agencies, in collaboration with community partners, to set priorities and coordinate and target resources. A community health improvement plan is critical for developing policies and defining actions to target efforts that promote health. It should define the vision for the health of the community through a collaborative process and should address the gamut of strengths, weaknesses, challenges, and opportunities that exist in the community to improve the health status of that community.

A community health assessment gives organizations comprehensive information about the community’s current health status, needs, and issues. This information can help develop a community health improvement plan by justifying how and where resources should be allocated to best meet community needs.

Benefits include:

  • Improved organizational and community coordination and collaboration
  • Increased knowledge about public health and the interconnectedness of activities
  • Strengthened partnerships within state and local public health systems
  • Identified strengths and weaknesses to address in quality improvement efforts
  • Baselines on performance to use in preparing for accreditation
  • Benchmarks for public health practice improvements
Simply, communities that participate in the iterative Community Health Improvement Planning process are better able to address, systematically, the community’s health challenges and make meaningful change to the health and quality of life of the community’s residents.