Mackenzie is a student at Plymouth State University who interned with the Foundation for Healthy Communities. The focus was on working on addressing social determinants of health through Community Benefit Profiles. As part of the Community Benefit Profile, they researched health disparities in each of the hospital service areas and identifying how each hospital is addressing these disparities in their community health improvement plans.  It will be used to provide hospitals with a snapshot and education demonstrating:

1) Where they are investing their community benefit dollars

2) Health disparities in their service area

3) How they are addressing health disparities, where are the gaps, and where there are opportunities to make more effective and efficient investments to improve population health and well-being.

The inclusion of Social Determinants of Health questions and data in the CHNA process will provide hospitals with a more complete view of factors affecting population health, the health of their patients, and what they can do to address these factors.