What is a CHIP? Why is it Important?

A Community Health Improvement Plan, or CHIP, is a long-term, systematic effort to address public health problems on the basis of the results of community health assessment (CHA) activities and the community health improvement process.

Community Health Assessments (CHA)

The Public Health Accreditation Board (PHAB) describes the purpose of a community health assessment (CHA) in their Standards and Measures as tools “to learn about the community: the health of the population, contributing factors to higher health risks or poorer health outcomes of identified populations, and community resources available to improve the health status.”

Mobilizing for Action through Planning and Partnership (MAPP)

The National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO), has created six steps that make up the Mobilizing for Action through Planning and Partnership (MAPP) process. This is a process that is used by public health leaders to identify and prioritize community needs, as well as to find the resources necessary to meet them. The six phases in this process are as follows:

• Organizing and engaging partners: Pulling together community organizations and individuals with a vested interest in the improvement of the community.
• Visioning: Conceptualizing the goals of the partners involved in the community health improvement process to create a shared vision of the end goal for the community.
• Collecting and analyzing data: Using four different MAPP assessments (Community Themes and Strengths, Local Public Health System, Forces of Change, and Community Health Status Assessments) to gather data pertinent to the goals created.
• Identifying and prioritizing strategic issues: With the data gathered, this step involves ordering which community needs are the most pressing, and the ones that may be less so.
• Developing goals, strategies, and an Action Plan: After needs are ordered and organized, the team can move on to outline what needs to be done to meet those needs through planning.
• Taking and sustaining action: The last step in the MAPP process involves moving into the community to take action based on the goals and plans that were made throughout the process.

Public Health Accreditation Board (PHAB)

The Public Health Accreditation Board (PHAB) requires certain measures to be taken to ensure an organization is capable of serving its community. The goal of the voluntary national accreditation program is to improve and protect the health of the public by advancing the quality and performance of Tribal, state, local, and territorial public health departments[4]. To remain accredited, these organizations are required to go through the re-accreditation process every five years. To learn more about this process, please click here.

Ultimately, CHIP is a plan for the betterment of a community. Using the MAPP process outlined above, a CHIP can be created in preparation for implementation of services and resources.  A CHIP is a valuable tool in creating safer, healthier communities and collaborating with others who want to improve the wellbeing of their communities.

WellFlorida Council, one of the state’s 11 local health councils, aims to help the 16 counties in north central Florida to identify and address needs through community health assessments and community health improvement plans.

For further information, contact Lindsey K. Redding at [email protected] or view their website.

To learn more about MAPP, please click here.

Sources:

1. Shirey, L. (2012, March 30). Developing the CHIP: The Basics. Retrieved https://www.naccho.org/uploads/downloadable-resources/CHIP-Basics.pdf
2. Public Health Accreditation Board (December 2013). PHAB Standards and Measures. Retrieved http://www.phaboard.org/wp-content/uploads/SM-Version-1.5-Board-adopted-FINAL-01-24-2014.docx.pdf
3. National Association of County and City Health Officials (N.D.). Community Health Assessment and Improvement Planning. Retrieved https://www.naccho.org/programs/public-health-infrastructure/performance-improvement/community-health-assessment
4. Public Health Accreditation Board (N.D.). What is Public Health Department Accreditation? Retrieved http://www.phaboard.org/accreditation-overview/what-is-accreditation/