2021 Community Health Needs Assessment: Milwaukee County
A community health needs assessment (often referred to as a CHNA), is a local health assessment that nonprofit health systems are required to conduct every three years to identify key health needs and issues through community input and comprehensive health data collection and analysis. CHNA’s are both a baseline for tracking and measuring health issues and needs in a community and serve as an anchor for collaborative health improvement planning and collective action.
Since 2012, the health system members of the Milwaukee Health Care Partnership (MHCP), Advocate Aurora Health, Ascension Wisconsin, Children’s Wisconsin, and Froedtert Health, have committed to share funding and design of a Community Health Needs Assessment (CHNA) every three years.
This shared CHNA, sometimes alongside assessments conducted at a local or system level, serves as the foundation from which hospitals and local health departments develop their respective community health improvement strategies. The findings are also intended to inform a broader audience - community health centers, government health agencies, public health departments, philanthropy, community-based organizations, and civic leaders - about the top health issues facing our community.
- 2021 CHNA Full Report - A 'deeper-dive' into the data and contributing factors behind the top health issues for Milwaukee County
- 2021 CHNA At-a-Glance - An infographic overview that tells the who, what and why of the CHNA findings
- 2021 CHNA Full Report Appendix:
The 2021 Milwaukee County Community Health Needs Assessment is informed by three key sources:
- Community Health Survey (primary data) – An on-line survey conducted August – October 2021, with more than 8,600 Milwaukee County residents completing 50 questions related to the top health needs in the community, individuals’ perception of their overall health, access to health services, and the social determinants of health - including racism and health equity.
- Key Informant Interviews and Focus Groups (primary data) – Conducted by health system community benefit leaders with 103 individuals representing 48 key informants and 55 participants in 4 focus groups to identify community health needs, root causes and contributing social factors. Community stakeholders offered insight on effective health improvement strategies currently in place as well as suggestions for future opportunities. Participants represented communities that include, but were not limited to: African American, Native American, Hispanic, Hmong, the elderly, youth, LGBTQ, individuals with disabilities, and those living with mental illness and substance use disorders.
- Health Compass Milwaukee (secondary data) - A compilation of numerous publicly reported health data and other sources on one website.
To learn more about the community health improvement plans and implementation strategies for each of the Milwaukee area health systems and hospitals, please visit their community benefit web pages:
CLICK HERE to view the 2018-2019 Milwaukee CHNA reports and materials.