2024 Community Health Needs Assessment Initial Findings – Full Report Coming Soon
Every three years, the health system members of the Milwaukee Health Care Partnership (MHCP) – Aurora Health Care, Ascension Wisconsin, Children’s Wisconsin, and Froedtert Health — share the funding and design of a shared Milwaukee County Community Health Needs Assessment (CHNAs). The shared CHNA serves as the foundation from which MHCP builds its shared priorities, and hospitals and local health departments develop their respective community health improvement strategies.
New in 2024, the shared CHNA has formally partnered with the City of Milwaukee Health Department to align with their Community Health Assessment (CHA) and with the Milwaukee County Department of Health and Human Services for strategic plan alignment.
“We are thrilled to make this alignment and partnership work with our health system and County partners. It allows us to continue to use data to open doors in finding collaborative solutions without over-surveying the community,” said Mike Totoraitis, PhD, Commissioner of Health, City of Milwaukee Health Department. “I look forward to the increased impact this public/private effort will yield for our Milwaukee residents.”
The next shared CHNA will be released by partners in the spring of 2025. This cycle, the CHNA will be comprised of three data sources: A community health survey taken by more than 5,000 Milwaukee County residents, over 40 stakeholder interviews and ten focus groups, and secondary data from Health Compass Milwaukee.
Below are some early findings from the community health survey. Responses were collected from June – October 2024:
- Nearly 5,500 total convenience sample from across the County, 3,500+ in the City of Milwaukee
- Improved race/ethnicity and age group distribution as compared to the 2021 survey
- Increase in survey response from high-need zip codes as compared to the 2021 survey
- Over 1,500 responses from households with children
- Preliminary analysis suggests top issues of community violence, mental health, access to affordable care, and housing needs
This data will be analyzed along with the stakeholder interviews, focus groups, and secondary data to elevate the Milwaukee County community’s top health issues, issues of concern, priority populations, and other critical community health findings for 2024.
“This process underscores MHCP’s cross-sector approach to improve community health,” said Andy Dresang, Executive Director, Community Health, Froedtert Health, “MHCP members remain committed to working together on what the community elevates, recognizing significant community health improvement can only be achieved if we work with others to address the socio-economic, behavioral, and environmental drivers of health.”
Health Compass
The full 2024 CHNA will be published in 2025 on Health Compass Milwaukee. CHNA partners also offer stakeholder and community briefings to accompany the report. Keep an eye out for those notifications – and some additional enhancements to be announced soon!
Health Compass Milwaukee, sponsored by the health system members of MHCP, provides a one-stop resource for trusted, comprehensive health-related data about Milwaukee County residents and communities. It collates up-to-date demographic, health, and determinants data as well as proven, data-driven strategies to improve health.