Health Equity Impact Assessment (HEIA)

Phia is a leader in Health Equity Impact Assessments in New York State, ensuring that community voices are centered in proposed changes to healthcare service delivery.

What is an HEIA?

As of June 2023, hospitals, nursing homes, and certain diagnostic and treatment centers in New York State are required to have an independent evaluator with experience in health equity, anti-racism, and stakeholder engagement complete a Health Equity Impact Assessment (HEIA) for specified Certificate of Need (CON) applications (i.e., construction, establishment, addition/reduction/expansion of service).

Why are HEIAs important?

An HEIA demonstrates how a proposed project will affect health equity, delivery of services, and access to health care, specifically for medically underserved groups.

“The purpose of the HEIA is to demonstrate how a facility’s proposed project affects the accessibility and delivery of services, and whether the project will enhance health equity and contribute to mitigating health disparities in the project’s service area, specifically for medically underserved groups.”

HEIAs ensure that:

Phia is a leader in Health Equity Impact Assessments in New York State.

Phia Consulting has been conducting community engagement for Health Equity Impact Assessments (HEIA) since January 2024.

Every HEIA we have completed has been approved.

Phia HEIA Projects

  • Relocating the NYU Langone—Brooklyn Inpatient Rehabilitation Unit

  • Relocating the Pediatric Congenital Heart Center

  • Expanding the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit

  • Relocating the Long Island Community Hospital Infusion Center

  • Creating an Ambulatory Surgery Center for Orthopedic Services in Westchester County

  • Relocating the Hempstead Women’s Wellness Clinic

Phia HEIA Process

  1. Become oriented with the context

    We want to understand deeply what the key issues are to unpack and hear perspectives on throughout the assessment

  2. Develop tailored data collection instruments

    We need our surveys and qualitative guides to collect and probe on the nuance that’s necessary for meaningful assessment of the impacts

  3. Conduct interviews, surveys, community conversations

    We work to schedule and complete all data collection with a diverse sample of medically underserved groups

  4. Analyze and synthesize data

    We utilize rapid qualitative analysis to extract salient themes in a timely manner and integrate with quantitative findings

  5. Amplify stakeholder perspectives

    We ensure every section of the assessment considers community perspectives on the identified impacts

Do you need HEIA community engagement support?

 Why choose Phia?

We are flexible and responsive to your project needs:

  • We are a diverse team with extensive experience working in health equity.

  • We have spent a collective two decades working in community and stakeholder engagement.

  • We offer expertise in rigorous qualitative methods and rapid analysis.

  • We have proven results, with approval of every single HEIA we have submitted.

We have 20 years of public health experience working in government, academia, and healthcare, including:

What you can expect from our collaboration:

  • Rigorous design and conduct of qualitative methods

  • Efficient and culturally sensitive community engagement

  • Thorough, rapid data analysis

  • Completion of meaningful engagement and mitigation report