Baptist Memorial identifies top health needs for the region

MEMPHIS, Tenn. - Baptist Memorial Health Care recently completed its triennial Community Health Needs Assessments for West Tennessee, Central and North Mississippi, Northeast Arkansas and the Memphis metropolitan area.

The 2022 Community Health Needs Assessment identified health equity access and capacity as potential barriers to better health for the region. The most pressing issues plaguing the region include maternal and child health, chronic diseases, behavioral health and social determinants of health.

“Baptist Memorial Health Care is dedicated to the health and well-being of the many communities we serve across the Mid-South,” said Keith Norman, vice president of government affairs and chief community relations officer for Baptist Memorial Health Care. “During the next three years, we will collaborate with community leaders, faith-based organizations and local providers to develop processes and systems to help improve access to care, build capacity to serve our communities and promote equity.”

To help track community health and respond to the needs of residents, every three years Baptist conducts Community Health Needs Assessments and develops Community Health Improvement Plans for each hospital. These assessments help guide Baptist’s community health improvement activities, as well as enhance care delivery, improve patient engagement strategies and direct population health management.

Community engagement was an integral part of the CHNA. In assessing community health needs, Baptist sought to engage and garner insight from historically underrepresented and underserved populations. Baptist received wide perspectives and recommendations from diverse community representatives and will incorporate this input to increase access to care and lead efforts that address underlying social determinants of health and health inequities.

Baptist has 22 affiliate hospitals serving residents in Tennessee, Mississippi and Arkansas. The Community Health Needs Assessment focused on the primary service counties of each Baptist Memorial Hospital to identify health trends and unique disparities within these communities. Hospitals with overlapping service areas were grouped into regions for comparisons of health and socioeconomic data.

Baptist Memorial Health Care is one of the country’s largest not-for-profit health care systems and the largest provider of Medicaid in the region. Baptist offers a full continuum of care to communities throughout the Mid-South and consistently ranks among the top integrated health care networks in the nation. The health care system comprises 22 affiliate hospitals in West Tennessee, North and Central Mississippi and East Arkansas; more than 5,400 affiliated physicians; Baptist Medical Group, a multispecialty physician group with more than 900 providers; home, hospice and psychiatric care; minor medical centers and clinics; a network of surgery, rehabilitation and other outpatient centers; and an education system highlighted by Baptist Health Sciences University (formerly Baptist College of Health Sciences). Baptist employs more than 19,000 people, and in fiscal year 2020 contributed more than $352 million in community benefit and uncompensated care to the communities it serves. For more information, please visit www.baptistonline.org or follow us on Facebook or Instagram.

To view the CHNA reports in their entirety, visit baptistonline.org/about/chna.