Community Needs Information
The documented health care needs of communities across Texas served as the primary driving force behind the selection of DSRIP projects under the 1115 waiver. In RHP 17, comprehensive needs assessments were used to support initial project planning in 2012 and were updated in 2013 through a partnership with the Center for Community Health Development at the Texas A&M School of Public Health.
Region 17 Health Assessment
Since 2002, the Center for Community Health Development (CCHD) has conducted population health status assessments of the Brazos Valley region (seven of the nine RHP 17 counties) on a four-year cycle. In an effort to assist the local not-for-profit hospitals in meeting the new 990 requirement of conducting an updated community needs assessment triennially, CCHD shifted their assessment schedule to every three years beginning in 2013. Additionally, CCHD expanded the scope of the 2013 assessment to include all nine of the counties in RHP 17. The Center for Community Health Development has extensive expertise in conducting community health assessments and has been designated as a Prevention Research Center by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention since 2004.
An overall summary for RHP 17 along with executive summaries for each of the nine counties can be found below. For more information about CCHD or to review the full 2013 Region 17 Health Assessment, visit the CCHD website.
County Executive Summaries
The following are executive summaries for each county related to the 2013 community needs assessment done for that area, as well as an overall summary of the community needs identified for RHP 17 as a whole.
DSHS In-Depth County Profiles
The following are in-depth county profiles compiled for and provided to RHP 17 by the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) through the Office of the State Epidemiologist. DSHS notes that a minimum of 150 hospitalizations over the five-year period measured were required within a county for an in-depth profile to be produced for any of the ten potentially preventable hospitalization conditions.
This information is made available to regions as a supplement to their own county health surveys and other needs assessment data.