How Collaboration Can Change Your Next Community Health Needs Assessment
Community Health Assessments are foundational to understanding population needs, identifying disparities, and building more equitable strategies. But for many public health departments, hospitals, and community organizations, the process can be time-consuming, fragmented, and resource-intensive.
With Metopio, collaboration doesn't just get easier — it becomes a powerful engine for scale, trust, and action.
The Case for Collaborative Assessments
A collaborative approach to CHA work allows multiple organizations to come together around a shared data platform, consistent methodology, and aligned goals. This model is especially effective for:
Cross-county health systems
Regional coalitions
Multi-sector partnerships involving public health, hospitals, and nonprofits
Using Metopio, collaborative teams can:
Compare ZIP code-level trends across counties in minutes
Use shared survey templates while still allowing for local customization
Pull from curated public, state, and local data sets in one platform
Automatically generate assessment insights tailored to each community
Improve efficiency and transparency while allowing each partner to retain their unique voice and local priorities
Technology That Levels the Playing Field
For public health departments — especially those in rural or under-resourced communities — this approach offers increased capacity without requiring major investments in internal data teams.
"Creating this community of practice lifts all of us," said one public health director from the Central Carolina Community Collaborative, made up of over 20+ organizations. "Our counties that are resource-limited now have the same fingertip access to data as anyone else."
Instead of "going it alone," collaborative work enables teams to:
Share knowledge across organizations
Leverage peer mentoring for newer staff
Combine resources to increase community reach
By removing manual data wrangling and spreadsheet-heavy processes, teams can spend more time listening, building relationships, and taking action.
Built-In Flexibility for Local Relevance
Collaboration doesn’t mean giving up local context. Metopio’s platform is designed to support both consistency and customization:
Consistency thanks to shared survey tools
Authenticity and relevance across teams from locally added questions and customizations
Efficiency boosted by shared report templates
“As another partner explained, “It’s a ‘choose your own adventure’ model. Everyone is welcome. No one is pressured. The baseline is shared — the flavor is local.””
This flexibility allows large health systems to spot regional trends while also giving smaller communities the ability to tell their own story.
Getting Started: Advice from the Field
Organizations across the country are already using Metopio to strengthen their CHA process. Here’s what Kristen Soni, Director of Community Health Needs Assessments at Advocate Health, says made the biggest difference for her collaborative: "Start small. Just start with someone! Start the conversation with those sitting around your table.”
Powering Collaboration With Metopio
At Metopio, we help organizations move from data access to action. Our platform supports community collaboration, multi-organization partnerships, and streamlined CHA cycles with:
500+ preloaded and up-to-date public datasets
Shared survey infrastructure
AI-automatically generated insights and reports
Support for custom data and local overlays
Whether you’re looking to standardize your process across a large system or build your first regional coalition, Metopio is built for collaboration at every step.
Visit www.metopio.com to learn more — and see how a shared data platform can help you deliver greater health outcomes, together.