Alameda County community members have identified mental health issues, systemic inequities, and safety as top health challenges their children face, according to a triennial report by UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital Oakland.
The 2025 Community Health Needs Assessment also cited violence and disparities in maternal health as high priority areas to address.
Under both state and federal law, nonprofit hospitals are required to conduct a community assessment every three years. The goals of the 2025 assessment are to provide insight into the health of the community, prioritize local health needs, and identify areas for improvement.
With our new hospital project and outpatient facilities, we're expanding access to the mental health, trauma, and emergency care that will help us address our most challenging societal conditions,"
"Our community has told us clearly that societal conditions such as poverty, violence, and housing insecurity have a profound impact on their health," said Nicholas Holmes, MD, MBA, president of UCSF Benioff Children's Hospitals. "We're deeply thankful to everyone who participated in this needs assessment for providing us clear guidance and confirmation of our priorities."
The Community Health Needs Assessment is designed to offer important feedback for local policymakers, while also helping health systems address the issues of greatest concern to their patients and neighbors. UCSF Benioff Oakland has used the survey in the past to help guide both hospital and community investments.
"With our new hospital project and outpatient facilities, we're expanding access to the mental health, trauma, and emergency care that will help us address our most challenging societal conditions," said Holmes. "At the same time, we are unifying our care teams across the Bay to streamline patients' access to the best care, no matter where they enter our health system. And we are continuing to invest in programs and partnerships with local nonprofits, schools, and agencies to improve the fundamental conditions that keep children healthy in the first place."
UCSF Benioff Oakland has made significant progress in addressing top health priorities from its 2022-24 assessment, such as increasing workforce diversity, screening youth for suicide risk, enhancing culturally responsive care, and expanding support for youth impacted by violence.
Hospital project to expand care
Among the most pressing issues identified by community members in the 2025 assessment:
- Mental health is the leading cause of youth hospitalizations in Alameda County (21%), far outpacing the next highest cause, asthma and bronchitis (6%). The county's rate of mental health hospitalizations for youth exceeds the state average (17%).
- Many community members cited the deep connection between societal stressors - poverty, violence, trauma - and youth mental health challenges.
- One-third of participants raised concerns about health care access and delivery, particularly long wait times and poor provider communication.
- Maternal and child health disparities remain stark, especially for Black mothers. In Alameda County, the rate of complications related to pregnancy and childbirth (136.7 per 100k) was notably higher than the California average (108 per 100k) and was highest for Black mothers (229.2 per 100,000).
- Safety was prioritized in over 40% of interviews and focus groups, with the homicide rate in Alameda County (8.0 per 100,000) significantly higher than the state average (4.8 per 100,000) - and much higher for Black residents (50.7 per 100,000).
UCSF Benioff Oakland's $1.6 billion hospital expansion is central to expanding care to meet the needs that county residents identified in the survey. Once completed, the seven-story building will include a new emergency department that doubles the space for child-centered trauma care, updated imaging services, a new neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), and seven new surgical suites. It will also add a new behavioral health inpatient unit with 20 private beds and four specialized emergency department beds for patients with acute behavioral health needs.
UCSF Benioff Oakland expects inpatient volumes to grow 32% and outpatient volumes to grow 34% as a result of the new building and its surrounding network.
The 2025 Community Health Needs Assessment is now open for public comment. UCSF staff and partners will develop and finalize an implementation plan aligned with the identified priorities by November 15. The implementation plan requires approval from the UC Regents.
About the Community Health Needs Assessment
To ensure a comprehensive understanding of health challenges facing children and families in Alameda County, UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital Oakland collected both qualitative and quantitative data for this assessment. It placed a strong emphasis on community input from more than 200 community members, service providers and health experts, and included individuals from vulnerable and medically underserved populations such as unhoused individuals, low-income families, people with disabilities, Black communities, and LGBTQ+ communities.
About UCSF Benioff Children's Hospitals
UCSF Benioff Children's Hospitals are among the nation's leading pediatric specialty hospitals, according to U.S. News & World Report 2023-24 rankings. Their expertise covers virtually all pediatric conditions, including cancer, heart disease, neurological disorders, pulmonology, diabetes and endocrinology, as well as the care of critically ill newborns. The two campuses in San Francisco and Oakland are known for basic and clinical research, and for translating research into interventions for treating and preventing pediatric disease. They are part of UCSF Health, whose adult hospital ranks among the top medical centers nationwide and serves as the teaching hospital for the University of California, San Francisco, a national leader in biomedical research and graduate-level health/sciences education. Visit https://www.ucsfhealth.org .
