The Ventura County Community Health Improvement Collaborative (VCCHIC) is a formal, charter-bound partnership of ten local health care organizations.  These hospitals, health district, behavioral and public health departments, community clinics, and Medi-Cal Managed Care plans are committed to better understanding Ventura County’s health and social needs.

Community Health Needs Assessment

VCCHIC members collaborate every three years to assess Ventura County residents’ most pressing health needs – and then use that information to develop a countywide strategic plan of action. The 2025 Community Health Needs Assessment (CHNA) is the third such county-wide collective assessment conducted by VCCHIC.

Encompassing data detailing dozens of vital local health indicators, more than 6500 resident responses to our comprehensive, bilingual health survey, along with input from 11 separate focus groups among populations of interest – the Ventura County 2025 CHNA draws on robust input to outline the state of health in the county today.  While Ventura County’s current health care landscape looks somewhat different from the peak-COVID era captured in our 2022 CHNA, the 2025 iteration shows that pressing health needs persist for residents.  The 2025 CHNA demonstrates that while COVID danger has lessened, other health challenges have actually worsened over the past three years.

After a great deal of data analysis, partner input, and strategic consideration, the VCCHIC Steering Committee chose three 2025 CHNA priorities – Behavioral Health, Women’s Health, and Older Adults’ Health. Those will serve as the focus for the strategic plan.  Importantly, because access to care, care navigation and health equity are permanent VCCHIC principles that are essential to improving community health, they will all be embedded as strategic objectives within each of the three priority areas identified above.

Community Health Implementation Strategy

That CHNA data and analysis – along with the invaluable insights from VCCHIC partners – serve as the foundation for the next phase in this collective process.  Over three months, VCCHIC partners gathered to develop the next Community Health Implementation Strategy (CHIS).  This planning process requires inclusive, active participation from across the county to craft a feasible, flexible, and impactful strategic plan. As with the CHNA process, VCCHIC committed to bringing the full range of community expertise and insights to bear on the CHIS development.  Together, hundreds of local stakeholders (providers, advocates, and others) committed their time and expertise to develop a high-quality CHIS that would meaningfully improve community health over the next three years.