Research: Basis for All Good Decision Making

As you might remember from our previous blog post, we’re focusing on AscentHealth Consulting’s three main values this month:

1. Research is the basis for all good decision making and strategy.

2. Every community is unique and has opportunities to become a much healthier place.

3. Prevention is the most powerful concept for improving community health.

Today, we’re going dive into our first value, that research is the basis for all good decision making and strategy.  Mary’s background in leading healthcare marketing and strategy for major hospitals and my background leading public health efforts for cities have led us both to understanding the importance of research through the decision-making process.

Here’s the thing: you have to ask questions, early and often, of the people who know the answers. Community thought leaders know the resources, barriers, recent successes, and existing efforts in community health improvement. You simply have to know who these people are, ask them about recent events or near-future planning, and compile this information. Sounds simple, right? It is—and it isn’t.

From our experience, this is one of the biggest values that comes with a community health needs assessment (CHNA). CHNAs dive into a variety of trends and directly study the needs and goals of your specific community. This research becomes invaluable later as you develop a strategic plan for improving the health of your community. Without this research, it can be much more difficult — if not impossible — to allocate your budget in the ways that will help your community the most.

This is why research is always the first step of a needs assessment from AscentHealth. We investigate demographics and health statistics, perform in-depth interviews with small groups and individuals to better understand their needs and find the facts that will help you make the best decisions for your community.

Ready to get started on your community health needs assessment? Contact us today.