Springfield Hospitals, County Health Department Collaborate on Project to Assess Sangamon County's Health Needs

HSHS St. John’s Hospital, Memorial Medical Center and  the Sangamon County Department of Public Health are once again collaborating on a project to assess the health needs of the residents of Sangamon County.

As  part of the assessment process, the two Springfield nonprofit hospitals and the county health department will ask all county residents to help identify pressing community health needs through an online community survey.

The  survey went online today and will be open until Feb. 12, 2018. Residents can take the survey at go.uis.edu/chna. The  survey research department at the University of Illinois at Springfield will conduct the online survey.

Nonprofit  hospitals must complete a community health needs assessment every  three years, a  requirement of the Affordable Care Act of 2010. Hospitals provide their reports to the Internal Revenue Service.

Printed  copies of the survey also will be available to various community organizations to distribute to residents who don't have access to a computer. Printed copies are available at the Sangamon County Department of Public Health, 2833 S. Grand Ave. E, Springfield, from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Following  the survey, the university will provide the hospitals and the county health department with an outcomes report. The hospitals and county health department will determine which health priorities they should address over the next three years and how to implement those priorities. Those  priorities will be announced in late 2018.

In  2015, the  two hospitals and the county health department completed their first  collaborative assessment, drawing from feedback provided by 781 residents who responded to the survey.  That led to the Springfield hospitals jointly supporting a  project to increase access to care in the  Enos Park  Neighborhood, a low-income neighborhood between the two hospitals.

In  addition to their collaborative initiative in Enos Park,  each hospital developed separate community health priorities. HSHS St. John's Hospital focused on pediatric mental health, pediatric obesity and pediatric asthma. Memorial Medical Center focused on mental health and obesity. 

Sangamon County Department of Public Health adopted child abuse, access to care and asthma as priorities.

Other  central Illinois hospital affiliates with Hospital Sisters Health System and Memorial Health System will prepare separate community health needs assessments for their respective counties.

HSHS  St. John's Hospital is part of Hospital Sisters Health System. The other hospitals in Hospital Sisters Health System's central Illinois division conducting health needs assessments are  HSHS St. Francis Hospital for Montgomery and Macoupin counties and HSHS St. Mary's Hospital for Macon County.

Memorial  Medical Center is part of Memorial Health System. The other Memorial Health System hospitals are Abraham Lincoln Memorial Hospital for Logan County, Passavant Area  Hospital for Morgan County and Taylorville Memorial Hospital for Christian County.

The  Sangamon County Department of Public Health also will run a survey in Menard County.