From CHA to CHIP: Your Roadmap to PHAB Readiness
Achieving Public Health Accreditation Board (PHAB) accreditation requires a clear connection between your Community Health Assessment (CHA) and Community Health Improvement Plan (CHIP). The CHA and CHIP serve as interconnected phases of one strategic planning cycle. Success depends on authentic partnerships, data-driven decision-making, and clear documentation. This roadmap guides you through four essential phases to position your department for accreditation success.
Understanding the CHA-to-CHIP Continuum
PHAB standards 1.1 and 5.2 require comprehensive community health assessments and corresponding improvement plans. The 2026 reaccreditation standards require updating your CHA and CHIP at least once every 6 years, though many departments update more frequently to stay responsive to emerging needs.
The most common pitfall? Treating CHA and CHIP as isolated projects. PHAB reviewers notice when priorities don’t align with assessment findings, strategies lack data justification, or community input is missing. Success requires viewing CHA and CHIP as phases of one continuous strategic process where collaborative partnerships drive decisions. The MAPP (Mobilizing for Action through Planning and Partnerships) framework exemplifies this approach, providing a community-driven strategic planning cycle that aligns with PHAB’s expectations.
Phase 1: Conducting Your Community Health Assessment (CHA)
Your CHA must include comprehensive data from multiple sources. Collect both secondary data (existing datasets like vital statistics, BRFSS, Census data, CDC PLACES) and primary data (surveys, focus groups, interviews, photovoice projects, community forums). At EVALCORP, we partner with clients to conduct community health needs assessments that prioritize the following:
Include Diverse Demographics
Document at least 4 demographic variables (age, race/ethnicity, income, gender identity, housing status, etc.) and break data into sub-groups to reveal where disparities are greatest.
Prioritize Meaningful Engagement
Community engagement goes beyond surveys. Community partners—especially those most affected by health disparities—should collaborate in planning, data collection, analysis, and decision-making. Document stakeholder involvement, attendance, feedback, and how community input shaped findings.
Identify Health Disparities
Collect data on any disparities that exist. For at least two subpopulations, document possible contributing factors: systemic barriers, policies, economic conditions, built environment gaps, access barriers, and social determinants. Use tools like the Social Vulnerability Index to visualize disparities.
Document Community Assets
Beyond identifying challenges, inventory existing strengths: community organizations, programs, partnerships, skills, and resources that can support improvement in community health.
Phase 2: Root Cause Analysis and Priority Selection
Before developing your CHIP, conduct a collaborative review of CHA findings examining health priorities, root causes of disparities, systemic barriers affecting specific populations, and how findings will inform strategy selection.
Use objective criteria to select 3-5 priorities: disease burden and severity, health disparities, community concern, feasibility and resources, and partner capacity alignment. Document the prioritization process—how participants moved from reviewing data to selecting final priorities using tools like nominal group technique, multi-voting, or prioritization matrices. Every priority must directly trace back to CHA data and community input.
Phase 3: Developing Your Community Health Improvement Plan (CHIP)
Your CHIP translates CHA findings into collaborative action. Begin by seeking input from stakeholders, ensure representation from multiple sectors and bring in perspectives from the communities most affected by health disparities. A strategic planning consultant can help you prioritize the following in your CHIP:
Develop SMART Objectives
For each priority, create SMART objectives: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound. Explicitly cite CHA findings when justifying each objective—PHAB reviewers will verify this connection.
Select Evidence-Based Strategies
Incorporate research proven interventions through resources like The Community Guide, Healthy People 2030, or the Age-Friendly Public Health Systems 6Cs Guide. These strategies can be adapted to your local context and partner landscape—generic strategies raise red flags.
Assign Clear Accountability
For each activity, specify responsible organizations, timelines with milestones, and resource requirements. Shared ownership across multiple partners is essential—no single health department can address complex health issues alone.
Identify Community Health Assets and Resources
Document assets supporting implementation: partner organizations, existing programs, funding, community relationships, and physical resources. Link these explicitly to priorities and activities.
Establish a Tracking Process
Describe how the partnership will monitor progress: meeting frequency, data collection and review methods, and reporting mechanisms (quarterly reports, dashboards, shared spreadsheets). You might incorporate capacity building training to ensure that your staff has the skills for ongoing data collection.
Phase 4 (Ongoing): Best Practices for Documentation
Even excellent CHA and CHIP work can falter during PHAB review due to poor documentation. Reviewers need clear evidence connecting assessment findings to improvement strategies.
Create Clear Connections
Use consistent terminology throughout both documents and explicitly reference CHA data when introducing each CHIP priority. Include page numbers or section cross-references. Every CHIP goal must trace back to CHA findings.
Organize Supporting Materials
PHAB requires comprehensive documentation beyond core reports:
- Meeting agendas and minutes showing stakeholder engagement
- Board resolutions formally adopting CHA and CHIP
- Letters of commitment from partner organizations
- Data source documentation
- Evidence of community input with dates and participant demographics
Create a quality assurance checklist before submission:
- Does every CHIP goal trace back to CHA data?
- Is all community engagement documented with dates and participant information?
- Are data sources properly cited?
- Are partner roles clearly defined?
- Are evaluation metrics specific and measurable?
Have someone unfamiliar with your process review the narrative flow. If they can’t follow the logic, neither can PHAB reviewers.
Strategic Thinking Is the Path to PHAB Accreditation
PHAB accreditation success hinges on strategic thinking from day one. The most effective health departments view CHA and CHIP development as opportunities to strengthen community health outcomes through data-driven decision-making and authentic partnerships.
The process requires adequate time and resources. Whether you develop expertise internally or work with external partners like EVALCORP, investing in quality assessment and planning prevents costly revisions and produces documentation that demonstrates your commitment to public health excellence.
Key Takeaways:
- Treat CHA and CHIP as connected phases of one strategic process
- Prioritize meaningful community engagement and explain root causes of disparities
- Document everything: partnerships, data sources, decision-making, and community input
- Establish clear connections between assessment findings and improvement strategies
- Build evaluation and tracking processes into your CHIP from the beginning
By following this roadmap and maintaining focus on authentic collaboration, your health department can achieve PHAB accreditation while creating genuine, lasting improvements in community health.
At EVALCORP, we partner with health departments to build the connected, data-driven CHA-to-CHIP process that PHAB accreditation demands. Whether you’re just beginning your Community Health Assessment, refining your Community Health Improvement Plan, or preparing documentation for submission, our team can help you build the authentic partnerships and clear evidence trail reviewers look for.
If you’re pursuing Initial Accreditation or Reaccreditation under the 2026 Standards & Measures, we’d welcome the opportunity to discuss how we can support your path to accreditation.
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