Marshfield Medical Center, Rice Lake, 2022 Community Benefits

Assessing Community Needs to Improve Health

he Marshfield Medical Center-Rice Lake Community Benefit Work Group completed a community health prioritization process in 2021 that is being used to set the course of community health improvement in Barron County for the next several years.

The work group was chaired by Marshfield Medical Center–Rice Lake’s President and included local Marshfield Clinic Health System leaders committed to improving health in Barron County communities. The work group conducted a community survey, held key informant interviews with local stakeholders, and reviewed secondary quantitative data to develop a Community Health Needs Assessment (CHNA) report. The CHNA was used to develop a community Implementation Strategy plan for the hospital to address the identified health priorities.

The community survey asked Barron County residents to evaluate 14 health needs based on the Wisconsin Department of Health Services State Health Plan, Healthiest Wisconsin 2020: Everyone Living Better, Longer. The key informant interviews collected in-depth, qualitative information from Barron County residents.

The community survey collected 250 responses between March and April 2021. Survey results and insights from the key informant interviews as well as secondary data helped identify the top community health priorities as alcohol and substance abuse, behavioral health, chronic disease, and social determinants of health.

In 2022, the Marshfield Medical Center-Rice Lake CHNA was utilized in the development of the Barron County Community Health Assessment and Community Health Improvement Plan. This process is led by Barron County Health Department and includes numerous partner such as the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, Mayo Clinic Health System, Cumberland Health Care, Amery Hospital and Clinic, Aging and Disability Resource Center (ADRC) of Barron, Rusk, and Washburn counties, and others.