Behavioral health and early childhood wellbeing are emerging as two of the biggest red flags for Clark County, according to a new community health needs assessment that Intermountain Health is pitching as a roadmap for action in Southern Nevada.
The assessment pairs public data with interviews and community feedback, then zeroes in on what locals say they are missing most. The report calls for expanded behavioral health services, stronger suicide prevention efforts, and more prevention-focused pediatric care, including screenings, immunizations and safe sleep education. It also pulls social factors into the frame - housing stability, food access and neighborhood safety are all flagged as key targets for local investment.
Intermountain released the community health needs assessment and its companion implementation strategy on April 30, 2026. In a press release from Intermountain Health, system leaders cast the work as a way to focus limited resources where they can do the most good. “These assessments are a data-driven process to help us prioritize health needs and then take action,” Lisa Nichols, Intermountain’s vice president of community health, said in the release.
Key findings for Clark County
Local reporting on the assessment notes that the CHNA lands on four main priorities for Clark County: improving access to behavioral health care, investing in social drivers like housing and food security, increasing general access to care, and preventing childhood injury and illness. As the Las Vegas Sun reported, the findings underline how service gaps and basic needs collide in many neighborhoods, leaving families and children in large stretches of the valley without consistent support.
What the plan proposes
The implementation strategy that rides alongside the CHNA turns those priorities into a to-do list. Intermountain outlines prevention trainings, school and family focused programs, place based investments, grant funding, and distribution of safety tools such as gun locks and naloxone. It also calls for culturally relevant injury prevention outreach and more help for residents trying to navigate social support systems, according to the system’s implementation document.
The strategy sets measurable goals through 2028, including increasing help seeking, boosting community capacity and cutting down barriers to care. Details and specific partners are spelled out in Intermountain Health's implementation strategy document.
Children’s hospital and a timeline
The CHNA also reaffirms Intermountain’s plan to build a standalone Nevada Children’s Hospital on the UNLV research campus. That project is billed as a way to keep families from having to leave the state for specialized pediatric care. Intermountain’s release puts the completion date in 2030, while local television coverage has reported a target near the end of 2029 for construction milestones and opening timelines. The new pediatric campus is framed in the CHNA as part of a broader push to keep specialty care closer to home for Nevada families, with local coverage of the hospital plan appearing at KTNV.
Next steps and local impact
Intermountain says the CHNA and implementation strategy will guide community investments, grants and partnerships with groups such as RTC, Safe Kids of Clark County and the YMCA as new programs roll out. The implementation document also points to the system’s existing Southern Nevada footprint - more than 65 clinics and outreach sites that Intermountain plans to lean on for prevention, screening and referral work - and it commits to tracking outcomes as projects move forward.
Community leaders and frontline providers will be watching to see how quickly the promised investments translate into more behavioral health capacity on the ground, and into stronger protections for infants and young children across Clark County.
