Community Health Needs Assessment

Welcome to the Bigfork Valley
Community Health Needs Assessment page

INTRODUCTION

This Community Health Needs Assessment is responsive to the 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and subsequent IRS regulation asking hospitals to assess health needs of their communities, prioritize those needs and implement effective responses to address them. The selected health needs should be an outcome of community discussion and reflect needs that the community perceives.

Bigfork Valley is a rural critical access hospital district in northern Itasca County, north central Minnesota. It employs about 220 people and is a major employer in the area. Bigfork Valley offers a wide range of services including surgeries, emergency care, acute hospital care, medical diagnostic services such as imaging and laboratory, senior living options, retail pharmacy and fitness center. An onsite medical clinic operated by Scenic Rivers Health Services (Cook, Minn.) provides five local physicians credentialed to use the hospital facilities as well as providing primary care services to the local population. An onsite dental clinic provides dental services.

As a hospital district, Bigfork Valley is governed by elected directors and receives a levy from residents within the district, and is currently one of only six independent hospital districts within Minnesota. A description of the area and a short history of Bigfork Valley is found in this report.

The 2018 Community Health Needs Assessment is available for viewing here: Bigfork Valley CHNA, a pdf document.

Your comments on this report are welcome. Please send them to WeCare@bigforkvalley.org with “CHNA comments” in the subject line.