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Local Public Health Assessment & Planning
- Community Health Survey
- Community Health Needs Assessment (CHA)
- Strategic Plan
- Quality Improvement Plan
Community Health Survey
At least every five years, the Benton County Public Health Unit conducts a Community Health Survey. The purpose of this survey is to collect data about the current health status of the people living in Benton County. This allows Public Health to track progress and identify potential areas for improvement throughout the assessment process.
The Central Minnesota Alliance (CMA), a partnership between Benton County, Sherburne County, Stearns County and CentraCare, conducted the Community Health Survey of adults between March and June 2021 in Benton, Sherburne and Stearns Counties. This survey was a mailed survey and was sent to a random sample of households in the three counties. Since then, we have been working to synthesize the data into a document that is easily shareable for our partners to view. We have curated data books for these areas:
- Benton County
- Sherburne County
- Stearns County
- St. Cloud Metro
- Region (Benton, Sherburne and Stearns Counties together)
We also distributed an electronic survey in 2021 to capture information from groups that we felt were underrepresented. The data collected from this survey is included in a separate data book.
2021 Community Health Survey Data Books & Highlights
- CMA Mailed Survey Fact Sheet (PDF)
- 2021-2022 CMA Status Assessment Committee Top Data Points of Concern (PDF)
- Benton County Mailed Survey Databook (PDF)
- Region Mailed Survey Databook (PDF)
- Region Electronic Survey Databook (PDF)
- St. Cloud Mailed Survey Databook (PDF)
- Sherburne County Mailed Survey Databook (PDF)
- Stearns County Mailed Survey Databook (PDF)
We extend our sincere gratitude to all the participants who took part in the Community Health Survey. Should you have any questions or require further information, please do not hesitate to reach out to us at Benton County Public Health, or any of our partnering organizations within the Central MN Alliance. We are here to support you and assist in navigating the data effectively.
- Benton: publichealth@co.benton.mn.us
- Sherburne: public.health@co.sherburne.mn.us
- Stearns: healthforall@co.stearns.mn.us
- CentraCare: communityhealthimprovement@centracare.com
Former Community Health Survey Documents
- View the 2016 Health Survey Results.
If you have difficulty viewing the entire page, please try clicking the "Full Screen" button in the bottom right of the page. It is not "mobile-friendly," best viewed on a desktop or larger tablet screen.
Community Health Assessment
After the Community Health Survey has been conducted, Benton County Public Health completes a Community Health Assessment (CHA). The purpose of this assessment is to learn about the health status of the people living in Benton County and identify areas for improvement. This assessment is then used to create a Community Health Improvement Plan (CHIP).
In an effort to be more effective in meeting the needs of the community, the three Public Health Agencies in the counties of Benton, Sherburne, and Stearns, along with CentraCare, have developed a partnership called the Central Minnesota Community Health Partnership (Central MN Alliance).
Every three years, CentraCare is required to complete a Community Health Needs Assessment and develop an Community Health Improvement Plan to address identified needs. At the same time, all Local Public Health Agencies in Minnesota are required to complete this same type of assessment and an improvement plan every five years. Going forward, Local Public Health will align with CentraCare and complete this work, as a region, every three years.
This essential collaboration between hospitals and public health is important in order to address population health needs and to decrease the duplicative nature of these two separate assessment and planning requirements. Therefore, this document serves as the Community Health Needs Assessment and Community Health Improvement Plan for CentraCare and serves as the Community Health Assessment and Community Health Implementation Plan for Benton, Sherburne, and Stearns Counties.
Furthermore, this work has not been done in isolation but in collaboration with the community. There have been and will continue to be opportunities for input into the process, the product, and future needs or changes to the document. This is significant because it is not only a guide for these initial partners but is also the plan for interventions by you, the community.
We encourage you to continue to partner with all of us as we strive to make the Central Region of Minnesota the healthiest in the state!
2022-2025 Community Health Needs Assessment & Community Health Improvement Plan
Former Community Health Planning Documents
- View the 2019 Community Health Needs Assessment (PDF)
- View the 2016 Health Survey Results.
If you have difficulty viewing the entire page, please try clicking the "Full Screen" button in the bottom right of the page. It is not "mobile-friendly," best viewed on a desktop or larger tablet screen.
Strategic Plan
Strategic planning is a process for defining and determining an organization’s roles, priorities, and direction over three to five years. A strategic plan sets forth what an organization plans to achieve, how it will achieve it, and how it will know if it has achieved it.
This strategic plan provides a guide for making decisions on allocating resources and on taking action to pursue strategies and priorities for Benton County’s Public Health Unit. View the Strategic Plan Report 2020-2024 (PDF).
Quality Improvement Plan
Quality improvement (QI) in public health is the use of a deliberate and defined improvement process like Plan-Do-Study-Act (or PDSA), which is focused on activities that are responsive to community needs and improving population health. It refers to a continuous and ongoing effort to achieve measurable improvements in the efficiency, effectiveness, performance, accountability, outcomes, and other indicators of quality in services or processes which achieve equity and improve the health of the community.[1]
A quality improvement plan is a basic guidance document that describes how a health department will manage, deploy, and review quality. It also serves to inform staff and stakeholders of the direction, timeline, activities, and importance of quality and quality improvement.[2]
[1]Riley WJ, Moran JW, Corso LC, Beitsch LM, Bialek R, and Cofsky A. (2010). Defining quality improvement in public health. Journal of Public Health Management and Practice 16(1), 5-7.[2]Kane T, Moran J, and Armbruster S (2011). Developing a health department quality improvement plan. Washington, DC: Public Health
The Benton Plan
Benton County Public Health Unit will utilize this document as a guide for all quality improvement projects. Download the Quality Improvement Plan 2014 (PDF).