LAUSR

BACKGROUND Healthy People 2020 has made achieving health equity one of its overarching goals; another goal is increasing the number of accredited local agencies that have Community Health Improvement Plans (CHIPs). CHIPs are meant to serve agencies as guiding documents for multiple years. OBJECTIVES This study investigates the prevalence with which health disparities are addressed within CHIPs and the specific health disparities targeted by these objectives. METHODS Researchers analyzed 4,094 objectives from CHIPs of 280 local Public Health Accreditation Board (PHAB)-accredited and non-accredited public health agencies in the U.S. RESULTS Despite the PHAB's focus on addressing health equity, not all PHAB-accredited agencies addressed health disparities (85.4% of CHIPs analyzed). However, more accredited than non-accredited agencies (73.9%) contained at least one objective focused on health disparities. DISCUSSION Findings indicate that if health equity is truly a goal of national initiatives, agencies' planning documents (e.g., CHIPs) can do a better job addressing commonly ignored populations.