RiverView Health Shares Patient, Community Impact during Hospital Week
RiverView Health is one of 6,093 hospitals in the US and one of 128 in Minnesota.
May 7-13, 2023, is National Hospital Week and a good time to look at a hospital's positive impact on its community. The American Hospital Association (AHA) calls rural hospitals and health systems the "lifeblood of their communities, committed to ensuring local access to high-quality, affordable health care."
RiverView is one of 77 rural hospitals with the federal Critical Access Hospital (CAH) designation in Minnesota. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services identifies these hospitals as providing healthcare services to rural, often underserved communities. The population density is lower in these areas, correlating with a higher number of underinsured or uninsured individuals and older adults. RiverView is one of 1,353 CAHs in the US.
Medicare and Medicaid Services deem CAHs essential because they offer more affordable, accessible healthcare in rural areas. Less expensive and more convenient care is crucial, as individuals living in rural areas are also more susceptible to preventable illnesses such as depression and diabetes.
Rural Care at Work
In Fiscal Year 2022, RiverView's 25-bed Inpatient Unit provided overnight care to 758 patients for a total of 1698 days. The average length of stay was 2.36 days. Patients with sepsis, pneumonia, COVID, and other related illnesses accounted for over 36 percent of those 1698 days, while surgical patients followed at nearly 26 percent. Births numbered 104, with newborn stays accounting for 12 percent of the hospital stays and their mothers at 11 percent.
Besides its Inpatient Unit, RiverView houses one of 123 24-hour emergency departments in Minnesota. In 2022, 6,145 patients received care in the Crookston emergency department.
RiverView also offers surgical services, clinic services, therapy through Rehab Services, substance abuse help from RiverView Recovery Center, diagnostic imaging services, lab testing, and home health. Crookston, East Grand Forks, Fertile, Red Lake Falls, Roseau, and Thief River Falls house RiverView facilities offering various services, including clinics, Rehab Services, RiverView Recovery Center, laboratory, and diagnostic imaging.
Impact Beyond Care
Hospitals create jobs and purchase goods and services from others in the community. Not only does RiverView deliver much-needed medical care, but it is also an economic engine in the communities it serves.
According to the AHA, in 2020, hospitals employed 6.3 million people and purchased more than $1.1 trillion in goods and services from other businesses. These "ripple effects" mean two additional jobs for every hospital employee, and every dollar a hospital spends supports $2.30 of additional business activity.
Reports indicate that in 2021, RiverView's initiatives, activities, and investments as a tax-exempt hospital offered an impact of more than $5.7 million.