Austin-Travis County partners release 2025 Community Health Assessment, prioritize access, behavioral health and social determinants

Austin-Travis County public-health partners on Nov. 5 presented findings from the 2025 Community Health Assessment (CHA) and accompanying Community Health Improvement Plan (CHIP), laying out shared priorities and next steps for coordinated implementation.

The presentations—by Ascension Seton, Baylor Scott & White Health, St. David’s Foundation, Central Texas Food Bank and Austin Public Health—described methods that combined hundreds of secondary indicators with extensive community input, and converged on similar priority areas: access to health care, mental and behavioral health, social determinants of health (including housing and transportation), maternal and child health and food security. The commission approved minutes from its Oct. 1 meeting by voice/hand vote before the presentations.

Kelly Lovelace, community benefit director for Ascension Texas, described Ascension’s regional approach. "People don’t stop at borders of counties," she said, explaining that Ascension’s CHNA covered an 11‑county service area and combined county‑level indicators with subcounty mapping and focus groups to surface geographic disparities. Lovelace said Ascension’s four prioritized needs for the next three years are health care access and quality, mental and behavioral health, social determinants of health and maternal and child health, and that hospitals in the region will develop coordinated…