Introduction to HealthMap 2025
Building on three years of collaborative work, strategic partnership and community engagement, the Central Ohio Hospital Council (COHC), Columbus Public Health (CPH), and Franklin County Public Health (FCPH) are pleased to share our Franklin County Health 2025 Community Health Assessment, HealthMap2025. Together we understand that the health of Franklin County residents is impacted far beyond the care they receive from healthcare providers, clinics and hospitals. This report highlights health priority areas identified by the community members who live, work and play in the neighborhoods we serve.
As part of its mission, COHC serves as the forum for community hospitals to collaborate with each other and with other community stakeholders to improve the quality, value, and accessibility of health care in the central Ohio region. Together with our two local health departments, we are committed to improving access to basic needs and addressing racial disparities in our community and healthcare system to ensure we have a positive impact on the health and wellbeing of our community. Over the past 18 months COHC, CPH and FCPH collaborated to complete an updated community health needs assessment, building on what we learned in 2022 and expanding based on the changing public health landscape. Many of our community partners worked with us to analyze dozens of health indicators and listen to our residents’ health concerns through a series of focus groups held last summer. HealthMap 2025 provides our hospitals, our health departments and other community organizations with an important tool to identify and address the unmet health needs of Franklin County residents. By characterizing and understanding the prevalence of acute and chronic health conditions, access to care barriers, and other health issues, our community partners can ensure resources are focused where they can have the greatest impact.
What We’ve Learned
Through this collaborative work, we learned:
- Poor housing quality or inadequate housing conditions contribute to negative health outcomes, including chronic disease and injury. Lead, mold or asbestos, poor air quality and overcrowding can lead to irreversible health effects. As a community, we must increase housing security and address housing costs to improve the health of all residents.
- Poor mental health remains a key issue. More than a quarter of Franklin County residents report feeling lonely. Loneliness is higher among recently pregnant women, individuals with lower household incomes, and individuals with disabilities.
- Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) significantly contribute to poor health outcomes. ACEs are traumatic events like violence, abuse or neglect during childhood that have long term effects on mental and physical health. In Franklin County, the highest prevalence of those with four or more ACEs is among Black individuals, those younger than age 65, and individuals with a disability.
- Maternal and infant health remain priority health issues. The health of a mother – before, during and after pregnancy – has a direct impact on the health of a child. Indicators show an increased focus on maternal health, including early pre-pregnancy care, could reduce the infant mortality rate.
- Injury and violence directly affect the health and wellbeing of residents. Americans ages 1 to 44 die from injuries and violence like motor vehicle crashes, suicide, overdoses or homicides more than any other cause. In Franklin County, accidents are the leading cause of death for adults ages 18 to 59. Intentional self-harm and assaults were the fourth and fifth leading causes of death for this age group.
Health issues raised in the report include the need to increase cancer screening and physical activity and decrease tobacco use (especially among youth), chronic conditions such as heart disease and Diabetes, suicide deaths and asthma and respiratory disease.
Moving Forward
More important than what we learned is what we now do to improve the health and wellbeing of all central Ohio residents. As leading health organizations in our community, we are working to better align our health improvement efforts. As we have done in the past, in areas such as infant mortality and drug overdoses, our hospitals and health departments are working to better coordinate efforts to address our community’s most pressing health needs. In the weeks ahead, we will reach out to community organizations, state and local elected officials and other community leaders that serve, care for and support our residents. We invite our partners to join us in this work.
For a full copy of the Franklin County Health Map 2025, visit the FCPH Data Hub.