Statewide Health Needs Assessment Report Released by Maine: Unique Public-Private Partnership

In partnership with the Maine Shared Community Health Needs Assessment (Maine Shared CHNA) collaborative, we’re pleased to announce the State and District Reports, along with the 16 County Reports, are now all available. The Maine Shared Community Health Needs Assessment (CHNA) is like no other in the nation in that it is the only statewide public-private partnership—bringing together four major hospital systems including Central Maine HealthCare, MaineGeneral Health, MaineHealth, Northern Light Health and Maine Centers for Disease Control and Prevention with the goal to turn data into action. We are proud to help Maine Shared CHNA foster collaborative relationships, identify community health priorities and create reports that will inform health planning for all people and agencies across the state.

This effort supports the CHNA needs of hospitals; supports state and local public health accreditation efforts; and provides valuable population health assessment data for a wide variety of organizations across Maine. The CHNA reports provide up-to-date health information at the state, county, urban, and sub-population levels.

The State Report provides a statewide look at the top six health priorities:

1. Mental Health
2. Substance Use
3. Access to Care
4. Social Determinants of Health
5. Healthy Aging
6. Physical Activity, Nutrition, and Weight

In addition, the State Report also provides an overview of the health and wellbeing of several categories of medically under-served and vulnerable populations.

As part of the report development, JSI conducted data analysis, facilitated 23 community forums across the state, conducted 42 key informant interviews, compiled 198 health indicators and then developed 26 data profiles, including one for each of the 16 counties in Maine.

Read the reports and learn more about the data collected and the other plans and tools created from this work.