A unique alliance of health providers working together to assess and address DC’s community health needs. The DCHMC sponsors this DC Health Matters portal.

The DC Health Matters Collaborative (DCHMC) [formerly the DC Healthy Communities Collaborative], is a coalition of hospitals and community health centers that combine efforts and resources to assess and address community needs. This work is undertaken in partnership, is data-driven, and engages the community. The ultimate pursuit is an equitable and sustainable state of health for District of Columbia residents.

Hospital community benefit requirements within the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 required all non-profit hospitals to submit a community health needs assessment every three years. FQHCs have been held to a comparable requirement for decades. In an effort to reduce redundancy, combine resources and improves partnerships, hospitals and health centers came together in January 2012 to issue a joint community health needs assessment and improvement plan. The Collaborative quickly moved from a focus on meeting requirements to truly investing in community health initiatives that address local health needs and disparities. The DCHMC seeks to expand the focus of care from individual or patient-level care to the broad scale social determinants of health. The mission of the DCHMC is to merge the two faces of the capital city into one healthy and thriving community for all residents.

The Collaborative membership includes four non-profit DC hospitals (Children’s National Medical Center, HSC Health Care System, Howard University Hospital, and Sibley Memorial Hospital); four community health centers (Bread for the City, Community of Hope, Mary’s Center, and Unity Health Care); and three ex-officio members (DC Hospital Association, DC Primary Care Association, and DC Behavioral Health Association). We have many formal and informal relationships with a variety of city organizations, including many that serve on our Community Advisory Board. The DC Department of Health is also a partner in our work.

DC Health Matters –_­ Online Portal

The DC Health Matters website is a community-driven, interactive web portal that provides actionable and timely local health information and resources. It brings a wealth of information to one accessible, user-friendly location. The portal is maintained by DCHMC to give our community the tools needed to read, understand, and act on hundreds of public health indicators that affect the health of DC communities.

The customizable Community Health Dashboard tool allows comparison against national averages, past trends, and Healthy People 2020 goals. It includes a Disparities Dashboard to view data by race, age and gender. The portal also features a library of more than 2000 evidence-based Promising Practices to improve community health and quality of life.

The products of DCHMC’s work - the Community Health Needs Assessment, Community Health Improvement Plan, and a live progress tracker - are shared on DCHealthMatters.org.

Community Health Needs Assessment – 2019

The DCHMC formed to combine efforts as a collaborative of hospitals and health centers to arrive at a set of community-defined, data-driven priority needs. The assessment sets the foundation for DCHMC’s community health improvement efforts. The first CHNA was conducted in partnership with the RAND Cooperation in 2013 and featured a robust quantitative analysis of health data in the District. For the 2016 CHNA, the group adopted a new approach with an expanded qualitative process, rigorous analysis techniques, and a special focus on the root causes and social conditions of health. The 2019 CHNA – released in June 2019 – followed the process established with the 2016 CHNA.

DCHMC Organizations:

• Children’s National Health System
• Howard University Hospital
• HSC Health Care System
• Providence Health System
• Sibley Memorial Hospital
• Bread for the City
• Community of Hope
• Mary’s Center
• Unity Health Care
• DC Hospital Association
• DC Primary Care Association
  

Qualitative Data Sources:

• 118 Community organizations
• 32 Key informant interviews
• 67 Focus group participants
• 53 Town hall attendees
• 7 DC Councilmembers

Quantitative Data Sources:

• Census Population
• Socio-Demographic
• Social Determinants
• Health Behavior
• Hospital Discharge
• Emergency Department Visits
• Community Health Center Visits

The 2016 CHNA identified nine community-defined needs: care coordination, food insecurity, place-based care, mental health, health literacy, healthy behaviors, health data dissemination, community violence and cultural competency. The DCHMC used a structured prioritization process to select a subset of these needs. Prioritization was based on four factors: 1) importance to the community,2) capacity to address the issue, 3) alignment with mission of member organizations, and 4) strength of existing interventions and collaborations. The four priority needs identified in the 2016 CHNA and carried forward in the 2019 CHNA include:

Community Health Improvement Plan – 2016-2019

CHNA priorities informs the development of the Community Health Improvement Plan (CHIP), which outlines concrete strategies and activities by which the DCHMC can address selected priorities.  

Based on findings from the 2016 CHNA, working groups were convened to advance CHIP strategies with a three-year time horizon (2016 to 2019). Each group meets monthly and includes participants from members of DCHMC and other community stakeholders and experts. The CHIP strategies aim upstream to make policy, systems, and environmental (PSE) change. Through this framework, DCHMC’s work goes beyond the clinical interaction, aiming to modify the social conditions of the community, and, ultimately, reduce disease and health disparities across the District of Columbia. In addition, the DCHMC began awarding grants to community groups in 2018 to further the work of the priority areas.

The DCHMC will release a new CHIP (based off of the 2019 CHNA) in November 2019.