Our hospital uses the Community Health Improvement Guiding Principles developed by the Johns Hopkins Medicine Community Benefits Advisory Council to help guide our collective commitment and efforts. These principles are as follows:

• Partner with community leaders and community-based organizations that serve as stewards to guide and educate JHM to best serve the needs of each population.
• Integrate the interests, assets, and expertise of our health system, academic institutions, and the community to reach mutually agreed upon outcomes.
• Develop transparent approaches to plan, implement, evaluate, and disseminate sustainable health improvement programs and policy interventions.

In Fiscal Year 2022, our hospital partnered with the Howard County Health Department and the Howard County Local Health Improvement Coalition to develop a community health needs assessment (CHNA) to identify the most important health issues in our community. In the same fiscal year, the Board of Trustees of the hospital approved our community health implementation strategy to address the health priorities identified through the CHNA.

As a result of the CHNA, our hospital identified the following health outcomes and social determinate of health as priorities:

Our hospital’s commitment to improving the health and well-being of our community will be demonstrated through the deliberate planning of community benefit activities. Our Implementation Strategy focuses on four overarching strategies:

• Healthy Beginnings – a focus on maternal and infant care and support for growing families
• Healthy Living – a focus on health factors and outcomes that impact the ability to live a healthy, well-enjoyed life
• Healthy Minds – a focus on mental and behavioral health care including substance misuse, depression and social engagement
• Healthy Foundations – a focus on the core elements needed to sustain and grow programs that support the health of Howard County

View the latest Howard County General Hospital 2022 Community Health Needs Assessment and Implementation Strategy.

If you have comments or questions, please contact us at 410-720-8796 or email [email protected].

Also available:

• 2019 Community Health Needs Assessment and Implementation Strategy