Researchers from Thomas Jefferson University Report Details of New Studies and Findings in the Area of Dentistry (A Content Analysis of Nonprofit…

Researchers from Thomas Jefferson University Report Details of New Studies and Findings in the Area of Dentistry (A Content Analysis of Nonprofit Hospital Community Health Needs Assessments and Community Benefit Implementation Strategies in ...)

By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Health & Medicine Week -- Investigators publish new report on Dentistry. According to news reporting from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, by NewsRx journalists, research stated, "Nonprofit hospitals are mandated to perform a community health needs assessment, develop an implementation strategy to address community needs, and invest in improving community health through community benefit investments in order to maintain the tax exemptions afforded nonprofit hospitals. We sought to describe the regional health needs identified across community health needs assessments and the portfolio of implementation strategies reported to address those needs."

The news correspondents obtained a quote from the research from Thomas Jefferson University, "The study provides a content analysis of community health needs assessments and implementation strategies for nonprofit hospitals in one urban region. The study focused on nonprofit hospitals in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Community benefit documents were coded to characterize health needs and intervention activities using the 4 health factor categories of the County Health Rankings framework: clinical care, health behaviors, social and economic factors, and physical environment. Hospitals predominantly identified health needs related to access to care, especially mental health and dental care, and insurance coverage and costs of care. In many instances, there is little alignment between needs identified through the community health needs assessments and the reported implementation strategies. Specifically, dental care, behavioral health, substance abuse, social factors, and health care and prescription drug costs were all cited as important community needs but were infrequently targeted by implementation strategies. Nonprofit hospital community health needs assessments in Philadelphia predominantly identify needs related to access to care and to some extent health behaviors. There is incomplete alignment between the needs identified in hospital assessments and the needs targeted in implementation strategies, underscoring a need for regional coordination in community benefit investments."

According to the news reporters, the research concluded: "Improved regional coordination between hospitals serving the region may offer the opportunity to eliminate duplicative efforts and increase the amount of funds available to address unmet needs."

For more information on this research see: A Content Analysis of Nonprofit Hospital Community Health Needs Assessments and Community Benefit Implementation Strategies in Philadelphia. Journal of Public Health Management and Practice, 2018;24(4):326-334. Journal of Public Health Management and Practice can be contacted at: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, Two Commerce Sq, 2001 Market St, Philadelphia, PA 19103, USA. (Lippincott Williams and Wilkins - www.lww.com; Journal of Public Health Management and Practice - journals.lww.com/jphmp/pages/default.aspx)

Our news journalists report that additional information may be obtained by contacting R.E. Powell, Thomas Jefferson University, Dept. of Med, Philadelphia, PA 19107, United States. Additional authors for this research include A.M.B. Doty, K.L. Rising, D.N. Karp, A. Baehr and B.G. Carr (see also Dentistry).

Keywords for this news article include: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, North and Central America, Health and Medicine, Community Health, Hospitals, Dentistry, Thomas Jefferson University.

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