SLCNA Report February 2020 - Report - Page 5
III. Methodology
Definition of a Community Needs Health Assessments (CHNA)
In March 2010, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) went into effect. Among the many
changes related to PPACA, certain legislation mandated that all tax-exempt hospitals must conduct a
Community Health Needs Assessment (CHNA) and develop an implementation plan to improve the health
and well-being of the community members served by that hospital and/or health system. Currently, only
nonprofit hospitals/health systems are required to perform community health needs assessments as
mandated by the Internal Revenue Code 501(r)(3). A CHNA requires the following:
P It must be conducted every three years
P Demographic assessment identifying the community the hospital serves
P Qualitative research of perceived healthcare issues
P Quantitative analysis of actual health care issues
P Appraisal of current efforts to address the healthcare issues
P Formulation of an implementation plan
P Assessment must be made available for public viewing
Messiah Lifeways’ Senior Living Community Needs Assessment (SLCNA)
Messiah Lifeways, like other nonprofit healthcare and long-term care service providers, is not required by
the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to conduct a community health needs assessments and a subsequent
implementation plan. However, Messiah Lifeways chose to conduct a process similar to a CHNA as a way
to gain a more thorough understanding of the needs and to steer current and future strategic planning
and social accountability efforts to better address these needs. It should be noted, that traditional CHNA
methodologies do not focus on a specific age cohort and are intended to analyze trends throughout
the population of a defined area. Due to our expertise in the senior population and access to resources
specific to older adults, our SLCNA will focus on the senior demographic.
Social Accountability programs are a measure of an organization’s commitment
to its mission, its stakeholders, and the greater community, and demonstrates
fulfillment of the requirements and expectations of tax-exempt organizations.
In early 2019, Messiah Lifeways formed an internal advisory group known as the “Social Accountability
and Community Benefit Task Force.” This interdisciplinary group of eight Messiah Lifeways team members
(See Appendix A) brings expertise from a variety of departments including: Marketing, Enrichment
Services, Donor and Volunteer Development, and Corporate Compliance and Risk Management.
One of the first tasks for this group was formulating a SLCNA, which is a fundamental part of social
accountability and providing community benefit. In order to better serve, care, and advocate for older
adults in new and different ways, we felt we needed to gather information about the needs in our
community in a systematic way by conducting our own needs assessment.
In partnership with other area nonprofits, government agencies, and local organizations, Messiah
Lifeways analyzed available secondary data and reached out to older adults and community leaders to
hear directly about: perceived quality of life, health status, and potential unmet needs of the senior
population. Following a similar process to a Community Health Needs Assessment, our Senior Living
Community Needs Assessment included the following steps:
3