Organizations that want to uncover needs in a market or community come to us to perform a Needs Assessment or Needs Analysis. Our systematic process allows us to first, determine if there is a need, and second, to define the need(s). Many times, clients are interested in evaluating existing programs or service offerings to understand where gaps may exist, wherein individuals’ needs are not being completely met. Our clients consider this a vital component of their operations, as it allows them to make decisions about programs and priorities.

We are frequently asked to perform Community Health Needs Assessments (CHNA) to ensure that health care organizations, health departments, and governing authorities have the information they need to provide programs that benefit and meet the needs of the community. Our needs assessments also make it possible to identify barriers and obstacles that prevent individuals from accessing programs or services. This type of research allows for evaluation of whether existing community resources have the ability to meet a need, and if not, discover ways to supplement resources if possible.

A properly-conducted needs assessment utilizes both quantitative and qualitative methodologies to strengthen research conclusions. Feedback from all community stakeholders is critical to gaining an accurate picture of the community landscape with respect to the need in question.

As an example, our Community Health Needs Assessments (CHNA) have triangulated the feedback from as many stakeholders as possible, through:

• In-depth interviews with key stakeholders who have a 50,000-foot view of a community’s health care landscape, such as hospital administrators or clinic directors. These individuals are often involved in policy decision making.
• Online surveys with key informants; community leaders who also have an expertise in health issues but are typically not involved in policy decision making. They are either: (1) intimately involved with recipients of health care services, and have a clinical perspective, or (2) are keenly aware of the community, its residents, and the issues and problems related to health care. Examples of Key Informants are physicians, nurses, physician assistants, dentists, ER staff, case managers, social workers, community benefit staff, financial staff dealing with charity care, board members, directors of nursing homes, directors of assisted-living organizations, and executive leadership not mentioned above in Key Stakeholder Interviews.
• Telephone interviews with community residents, such as the Behavioral Risk Factor Survey (BRFS).
• Self-administered surveys or focus groups with targeted community subpopulations that are considered vulnerable or underserved, such as residents who are uninsured or underinsured, senior adults, low-income groups, single mothers with children, minorities who may experience language or cultural barriers, etc.
• Secondary data inclusion of widely available data to lend support to the primary data collection, such as data from the U.S. Census, Centers for Disease Control, Kids Count, and County Health Rankings. Additionally, we utilize data collected from area hospitals and clinics.

Triangulating the above primary and secondary data sources paints a consistent and accurate picture of a community’s health and healthcare landscape. The information provides community leaders and stakeholders with a guide for the next steps of improving health and health care access for all community residents.

Our Needs Assessment process can be utilized to inform decision making for a variety of organization types. It’s a reliable, systematic way for organizations to stay abreast of customer or community needs and to assess how well their products or services are meeting those needs.