Community Health Needs Assessment

Executive Summary 

Oaklawn was founded in 1925 as a 12-bed hospital in a residential home, funded by a group of visionary philanthropists. Now, more than eight decades later, we’ve evolved into a highly regarded regional health care organization, licensed for 77 acute care beds and a 17-bed inpatient psychiatric unit. 

Oaklawn Hospital conducted the 2020 Community Health Needs Assessment (CHNA) to further its commitment to the community and to fulfill the requirements of the Affordable Care Act. For the purposes of this CHNA, the definition of community is all residents of Calhoun County, Michigan. This CHNA began in November 2018 and was completed and approved by Oaklawn’s Board of Directors on March 22, 2019. This assessment process is an extension of the previous CHNA that was published in March 2016. 

Service Area 

Oaklawn Hospital is located in Marshall, Michigan at the center of Calhoun County. Oaklawn’sservice area is defined as the entirety of Calhoun County, Michigan, where more than 90% of our patients reside. Within our service area we are strategically focused on supporting those communities within the 49068, and immediately adjacent zip codes, 49224, 49245, 49092, 49033, and 49014. In addition to our primary service area, limited services are available in Branch and Eaton Counties. 

Methods for Identifying Community Health Needs 

Secondary Data 

Secondary data used for this assessment were collected and analyzed from Conduent Healthy Communities Institute’s (HCI) community indicator database. The database, maintained by researchers and analysts at Conduent HCI, includes 158 community indicators from various state and national data sources such as Michigan Department of Community Health, National Cancer Institute, and the American Community Survey. See Appendix B for a full list of data sources used. 

Indicator values for Calhoun County were compared to Michigan counties and U.S. counties to identify relative need. Other considerations in weighing relative areas of need included comparisons to Michigan state values, comparisons to national values, trends over time, and Healthy People 2020 targets. Based on these four different comparisons, indicators were systematically ranked from high to low need. For a detailed methodology of the analytic methods used to rank secondary data indicators see Appendix B. 

Primary Data 

Community input was provided by a broad range of community members through the use of key informant interviews (38) and focus groups (10). Individuals with the knowledge, information, and expertise relevant to the health needs of the community were consulted. These individuals included representatives from state, local, tribal, or other regional governmental public health departments (or equivalent department or agency) as well as leaders, representatives, or members of medically 8 

underserved, low-income, and minority populations. Additionally, where applicable, other individuals with expertise of local health needs were consulted. 

Questions were open ended and appropriate probes were used to gather in-depth information from each key informant. The interviewees were given the questions in advance of the interviews to prepare their thoughts and opinions on each topic. The interviews were recorded and transcribed using Otter Voice Notes (Otter.ai) and analyzed using QDA Miner 5, a qualitative analysis software. See Appendix C for the interview guides and participant data. 

Summary of Findings 

The CHNA findings are drawn from an analysis of an extensive set of secondary data (158 indicators from national and state data sources) and in-depth primary data from community leaders, health, and non-health professionals who serve the community at large, vulnerable populations, and populations with unmet health needs. A synthesis of the primary and secondary data categorized by Health and Quality of Life Topic Areas was conducted to determine the significant health needs for Calhoun County. The ranked list is displayed in Table 1. 

Selected Priority Areas 

Oaklawn Hospital brought together hospital decision makers, members of the collaborative, and community leaders to identify significant health needs priorities to address. The following priority areas were selected: Behavioral Health, Chronic Disease, and Access to Care. 

Conclusion 

This report describes the process and findings of a comprehensive health needs assessment for the residents of Calhoun County, Michigan. The prioritization of the identified significant health needs will guide community health improvement efforts of Oaklawn Hospital. In conjunction with this report, Oaklawn will develop an implementation strategy for the priority health needs the hospital will address. These strategies will build on Oaklawn’s assets and resources, as well as evidence-based strategies, wherever possible. The Implementation Strategy will be filed with the Internal Revenue Service using Form 990 Schedule H. Both the CHNA and the Implementation Strategy, once they are finalized, will be posted publicly on our website.

Download the 2015 CHNA