Under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, Avera Sacred Heart Hospital is required to hold Community Health Needs Assessments every three years. Kara Payer is Vice President of Missions at ASHH and says these assessments allow the public to come together to discuss different topics related to the area’s health care.
The meetings are open to the public in order to gather information from everyone who needs any kind of health care at some point in their life. Payer says the meeting last evening at the hospital’s pavilion was set to cover the priority areas determined from the same assessment three years ago.
The focus group last night was not well attended, with only one participant who cited respite care as the biggest priority in the county’s health care needs.
