Assessment Tells the Real Story of Community Needs

What clinicians see in the hospital is only part of a patient’s health journey. But there is a deeper story there, one that can help providers better treat the whole person.




While all nonprofit hospitals are federally required to do a community health needs assessment (CHNA) every three years, GBMC is committed to doing the work because it establishes priorities for the health system and gives leadership a deeper understanding of what is happening in the community from a health perspective.




GBMC conducted the last CHNA in collaboration with the Baltimore County Department of Health, Northwest Hospital of LifeBridge Health, Sheppard Pratt, the University of Maryland St. Joseph Medical Center and MedStar Franklin Square Medical Center. Taking about a year to complete, the assessment combines hospital data with community surveys to provide a full picture of the health of Baltimore County residents.




“Hospitals play an important role in the health of the community,” Karen Thompkins, Director of Community Partnerships at GBMC, said. “The needs assessment serves as a way for us to engage with the community, determine what their perspectives on health are, and what they feel the solutions are. The language communities use to describe health provides more depth and insight into the data compiled as part of the assessment.”




Each assessment identifies three major priorities. The last assessment, completed in July 2021, determined physical health, health disparities, and mental/behavioral health as focus areas. Prior to 2017, the needs assessment was led by the Finance team. Since then, a Population Health team serves as the leaders and executors of the work.




One of the ways GBMC’s implementation plan addresses health disparities and physical health is a focus on food insecurity. GBMC partnered with Moveable Feast to provide food to people identified through the hospital system who were experiencing food challenges. From 2020-2022, 113 referrals were made and people were given food tailored to their needs and chronic conditions.




To address mental health, GBMC partners with the state to support the Greater Baltimore Regional Integrated Crisis System (GBRICS) implementation, which targets four counties in Greater Baltimore for the purpose of improving accessibility and quality of behavioral health services. This includes access to mobile crisis response teams through the new 988 hotline. GBMC serves on multiple committees looking into this issue and offers resources and expertise along the way.




Healthy communities thrive. The connection the healthcare collaborative has to the community is central to improving overall health and outcomes.