Provide an overview and description of the stages of an health impact assessment. How is it different from other forms of assessment, such as an environmental impact assessment or a community health assessment?

A health impact assessment (HIA) is a systematic process used to identify and assess potential positive or negative impacts of proposed policies, programs, or projects on the health of people in a given community. Generally speaking, there are seven stages which comprise HIAs: scoping; data gathering and analysis; identification of health issues and relevant stakeholders; evaluation of options for mitigation; synthesis into recommended action steps; reporting of findings and recommendations; and review/dissemination.

HIAs differ from other forms of assessments such as an environmental impact assessment (EIA) or a community health assessment (CHA) in that they focus specifically on how a proposed policy decision may affect public health outcomes by considering both direct impacts—such as air quality—as well as more indirect effects—such as access to healthcare services. Additionally, while EIAs are typically limited to government-led initiatives, HIAs can be conducted at any level ranging from small neighborhood plans all the way up to national laws. As such, they offer a unique opportunity for healthcare professionals to provide input on how decisions made outside their field might have downstream implications for population health down the line.