Collaboration among Missouri nonprofit hospitals and local health departments: content analysis of community health needs assessments.

Abstract

We identified the levels of joint action that led to collaboration between hospitals and local health departments (LHDs) using the hospital's community health needs assessments (CHNAs). In 2014, we conducted a content analysis of Missouri nonprofit hospitals (n = 34) CHNAs, and identified hospitals based on previously reported collaboration with LHDs. We coded the content according to the level of joint action. A comparison sample (n = 50) of Missouri nonprofit hospitals provided the basic comparative information on hospital characteristics. Among the hospitals identified by LHDs, 20.6% were "networking," 20.6% were "coordinating," 38.2% were "cooperating," and 2.9% were "collaborating." Almost 18% of study hospitals had no identifiable level of joint action with LHDs based on their CHNAs. In addition, comparison hospitals were more often part of a larger system (74%) compared with study hospitals (52.9%). The results of our study helped develop a better understanding of levels of joint action from a hospital perspective. Our results might assist hospitals and LHDs in making more informed decisions about efficient deployment of resources for assessment processes and implementation plans.