Community Health Implementation Plan September 2026
Contents Introduction ............................................................................................................................................................... 3 Community Health Needs Assessment 2025....................................................................................... 3 Community Health Implementation Plan 2026 - 2028 ...................................................................5 Conclusion .................................................................................................................................................................... 9
Introduction ChristianaCare has been serving southern Chester County since 2020 with primary care practices located in Jennersville, Kennett Square, and West Grove. ChristianaCare expanded that service in August 2025 by opening ChristianaCare Hospital, West Grove, ChristianaCare's first neighborhood hospital. It offers 24/7 emergency and inpatient services (ten emergency beds and ten inpatient beds), and advanced imaging. ChristianaCare also purchased the building across the street from the hospital which serves as a Health Center. The Health Center currently houses ChristianaCare's Jennersville Primary Care practice, imaging services, cardiology and cardiac diagnostic services, and physical therapy. In addition to our offerings in Southern Chester County, ChristianaCare has continued to expand in the Southeastern Pennsylvania region with the opening of another neighborhood hospital in Aston in June 2026 and the planned opening of the Springfield Neighborhood Hospital in Fall 2027, both in Delaware County. As with our West Grove Campus, ChristianaCare will also open companion Health Centers to provide additional needed and convenient health services to the community. The Aston Health Center will open in October 2026, and the Springfield Health Center is expected to open when the hospital begins operation. Our service in Pennsylvania and everywhere ChristianaCare is located is guided by our mission: We serve our neighbors as respectful, expert, caring partners in their health. We do this by creating innovative, effective, affordable and equitable systems of care that our neighbors value. We are privileged to serve our communities and neighbors as partners, and we are eager to build these relationships in Southern Chester County. At the time of this Community Health Implementation Plan's (Implementation Plan) adoption, our hospital in West Grove will have only been in operation for a year. Due to our recent entry into the community, this Implementation Plan is primarily focused on relationship building and continued learning about the community and our patients to determine how to best meet the community's needs.
Community Health Needs Assessment 2025 ChristianaCare adopted the West Grove Community Health Needs Assessment (CHNA) in September 2025. To complete the CHNA, ChristianaCare joined a Southeastern Pennsylvania Regional CHNA collaborative of health systems and hospitals which had completed several CHNAs for the region over the last decade. Within the collaborative, representatives from each of the health systems and hospitals formed a steering committee that worked with the project team comprised of staff from the Health Care Improvement Foundation (HCIF) and the Philadelphia 3
Association of Community Development Corporations (PACDC). The collaborative developed a community-engaged approach that involved collecting and analyzing quantitative and qualitative data and aggregating data from a variety of secondary sources to comprehensively assess the health status of the region. Community members contributed to the identification of priority health needs by completing a survey and participating in focus groups and community conversations. Key informant interviews were conducted with subject matter experts from local government, community organizations, and health systems. HCIF staff aggregated top needs gathered in the community conversations and survey and presented them to the steering committee. Using the Hanlon ranking method, each participating hospital and health system rated the needs. An average rating was calculated, and the community health needs were organized in priority order based on: o Magnitude of health priority based on size of population(s) impacted. o Seriousness of the issue within the specific hospitals/health systems to address. o Effectiveness of implementing solutions to address issues. o Feasibility of implementing solutions. The assessment identified the following as significant needs of the general population in our communities: • • • • • • • • • • • •
Trust and Communication Racism and Discrimination in Health Care Chronic Disease Prevention and Management Access to Care (Primary and Specialty) Health Care and Health Resources Navigation Mental Health Access Substance Use and Related Disorders Healthy Aging Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Services Food Access Housing Neighborhood Conditions
Based on ChristianaCare's available resources and ability to create programming to address the significant needs, along with the necessity of continuing to learn more about the community to best meet its needs, we will prioritize the following needs: • • •
Access to Care (Primary and Specialty) Chronic Disease Prevention and Management Health Care and Health Resources Navigation
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While we are not prioritizing the following needs: trust and communication, racism and discrimination in healthcare, and culturally and linguistically appropriate services, addressing these are foundational aspects of our daily operation and patient interactions. Language services are available at our Chester County Practices and West Grove Hospital for individuals with limited English proficiency or who are deaf and ChristianaCare has a mission of service guided by our values of love and excellence. Mutual respect between our caregivers and patients and rejection of racism and discrimination are necessary to meet our mission and advance the health of our community. The 2025 CHNA and Implementation Plan can be found on our website: West Grove Campus | ChristianaCare.
Community Health Implementation Plan 2026 - 2028 Learning to Best Serve Our Neighbors
As we enter our second year of operation at ChristianaCare Hospital, West Grove, we recognize there is more we must learn about the community to effectively address its needs. The next several years will be devoted to acquiring that knowledge through our continued presence in the community and partnerships with trusted community organizations. With more understanding of the community's needs and available resources, and strong community partnerships, we will be in a better position to identify what community benefit activities, especially those addressing access to healthcare, navigation of health care, and chronic condition prevention and management, may best serve Southern Chester County and how they should be implemented. Community Event Participation
We intend to increase our participation in community events, especially those organized to address health needs. Most importantly, these events will allow us to meet community members in the community. Our caregivers will participate by sharing health education and information about relevant services offered by ChristianaCare. These events will also introduce us to other community organizations and agencies with the shared goal of serving our community which we will take advantage of to develop relationships. Partnership Development
We strive to provide excellent clinical care for our patients, and we recognize how crucial positive interactions between provider and patient are for promoting positive health outcomes, but individual and community health is influenced by much more than what happens in a doctor's office or hospital. This is why we believe programs 5
that address patient needs must rely on community partnerships. It is through partnerships with community embedded organizations that successfully address social needs that we will better understand patient barriers to good health and be able to respond comprehensively to those challenges. Continued learning about community resources and partnership development will enable us to support patients with accurate community resource information. These informal, but valued, partnerships are crucial to effectively address patient social needs. Our expectation is that as we continue to integrate into the community, we will identify partnerships and initiatives to collaboratively address significant health needs. ChristianaCare also supports community organizations and deepens partnerships through our Community Investment Fund. Launched in 2019, the Community Investment Fund provides non-profit organizations with funding support for their efforts to address the significant needs in the community. ChristianaCare's Community Investment Fund has supported dozens of initiatives to address our community's most significant needs like housing insecurity, food access, and access to health care. Since 2025, ChristianaCare has provided annual community investment funds to support the mission of Chester County organization, Community Volunteers in Medicine. We expect to continue this support and identify additional community organizations serving Southern Chester County to receive community investment funding. We will prioritize initiatives that provide access to health care, healthcare navigation, and chronic disease prevention and management. These partnerships further enrich our understanding of the community.
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Goal: Identify community benefit program(s) to implement to best serve patient needs. Initiative Objectives 2026 – 2028 Strategic Targets Program Identification and Implementation
1.
Continue learning to better understand the community's needs and resources. 2. Identify community benefit programs to implement to best meet the needs of Southern Chester County.
Measures
1.
Develop multiple strong Partnerships, progress made in partnerships with community identifying and implementing organizations to better understand community benefit programs the community and identify resources to refer and serve patients. 2. Undertake strategic planning and resource allocation to identify community benefit programs to implement. Partnerships: ChristianaCare's Community Health Impact Department among other departments will identify potential programs to implement. Community partners include the Pennsylvania CHW Collaborative and others to be identified.
Goal: Participate in community events to serve and learn about the community. Initiative Objectives 2026 – 2028 Strategic Targets Measures Community Event 1. Identify community events valued by Participation in events, education 1. Participate in community events Participation
organized to address health needs by providing health education and/or raising awareness of services offered to address need.
the community to support through participation and/or sponsorship. 2. Develop partnerships, identify key stakeholders through these events.
provided, sponsorship provided, partnerships developed
Partnerships: We have received several requests from local government officials and County Health Departments. Additional community partners and events will be identified.
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Goal: Address barriers to good health through community partnerships. Initiative Community Investment Fund
Objectives
2026 – 2028 Strategic Targets
Measures
1.
Provide funding to community 1. Develop partnerships with Partnerships, services provided, # organizations to support their community organizations to identify of community members/patients efforts to address significant opportunities for investment and served community health needs further collaboration to promote especially related to access to good health for patients and the healthcare, healthcare navigation, community. 2. Explore development of and the prevention and partnerships to address patient management of chronic health need. diseases. Partnerships: ChristianaCare, on behalf of West Grove, has provided community investment funding to Community Volunteers in Medicine since FY25. We expect to continue that support and develop partnerships with other community organizations.
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While we will be working over the next couple of years to strengthen our relationships in Chester County to best serve our patients and community and identifying and developing initiatives to be deployed to most effectively serve our community, we will also continue to provide foundational access to health care that is necessary for healthy communities. The opening of ChristianaCare's West Grove Hospital in August 2025 ended a threeyear period in which this community did not have a hospital. Further, we are confident that the neighborhood hospital model best meets this community's needs by providing the appropriate emergency care where a full-scale hospital is not a sustainable option. Our expectation is that a more sustainable and innovative model will prevent future disruptions to care. ChristianaCare is also undertaking the process of identifying additional medical services to house in the Health Center located across the street from the West Grove Hospital. This will further ensure the health needs of the community are met. Additionally, ChristianaCare's generous financial assistance program is another significant way we promote access to care. Patients with household incomes up to 400% of the federal poverty line (FPL) are eligible to receive a 100% discount for medically necessary services. ChristianaCare does not provide sliding scale discounts. Eligible patients provided with financial assistance receive a full discount.
Conclusion ChristianaCare is one of the country’s most dynamic health care organizations, centered on improving health outcomes, making high-quality care more accessible and lowering health care costs. Partnering with our patients and communities to address our most significant community health needs is crucial for success in those efforts. We will continue to work to advance health for all individuals and communities we have the privilege to serve.
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