Assessing Our Community’s Health Needs

Healthcare providers in Central Pennsylvania are committed to understanding, anticipating, assessing, and addressing the healthcare needs of their communities. In the fall of 2011, Holy Spirit Health System, Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, Pennsylvania Psychiatric Institute and PinnacleHealth System, formed a collaborative workgroup to identify the needs of those living within Dauphin, Cumberland, Perry, Lebanon and the northern tier of York Counties.

With mutual interest in the health and well-being of residents in the region served by the four sponsors, a collaborative community health needs assessment was conducted to evaluate and understand the region’s health needs. This study, conducted by Tripp Umbach, a nationally recognized leader in community health assessments, identifies specific community health needs and evaluates how those needs are being met in order to better connect health and human services with the needs of residents in the multi-county region.