Understanding the health needs of a community is fundamental to delivering effective, equitable care. A Community Health Needs Assessment (CHNA) serves as a strategic tool for identifying gaps in services, prioritizing public health concerns, and informing data-driven decisions that improve population health outcomes. 

By engaging stakeholders, analyzing health trends, and aligning resources, CHNAs empower healthcare providers, public health leaders, and policymakers to tailor interventions that address both immediate challenges and long-term disparities—making them an essential element of quality healthcare. Here, Riverside Healthcare President and CEO Phil Kambic, offers important information surrounding this analysis.

An “All Hands on Deck” Approach to the CHNA

The CHNA is a thorough assessment a group of organizations do every three years. It was originally mandated through the Affordable Care Act. The assessment looks at many different factors and indicators across the entire spectrum of healthcare. Then, leadership aims to consolidate that data into strategic priorities that will take effect over the next three years. 

Riverside, St. Mary’s, and the Health Department each pay one-third of the cost to conduct the CHNA. An external agency with national experience and established methodology handles the assessment, including data collection and question design.

“We invite additional partners into this process. So, everybody from the YMCA, Harbor House, Salvation Army, just a lot of those other agencies we feel have valuable input and can provide essential care to community members outside of the hospital setting,” states Kambic. “We try to get a really broad spectrum of folks to come together and share their insights.”

Three Main Health Priorities

The most recent assessment identified three main health priorities, which are likely common nationwide. First is chronic disease management, including conditions like heart disease, cancer, stroke, and respiratory illnesses, which are increasingly critical with an aging population. The second is behavioral health, a growing concern since COVID-19, with significant needs in treatment, education, and prevention. The third priority is addressing social determinants of health—a relatively new but vital focus area impacting overall wellness.

“Many of us are very fortunate. We go home at night, head to our refrigerator, pull out various types of food to create a nice dinner. Or, maybe stop by a restaurant. Yet, there are a lot of people who have food insecurities and don't have enough to eat,” notes Kambic. “This assessment helped identify the extent of that problem. It is a major problem within our area, as well as housing and transportation.”

What Has Come Out of the Community Health Needs Assessment?

Riverside is actively using data from the CHNA to implement targeted programs addressing key health priorities. For chronic disease, they’ve opened specialty clinics—such as a heart failure clinic—staffed by nurse practitioners and overseen by physicians to help patients manage conditions and avoid hospitalization. They also launched a Population Health Department to provide proactive outreach and monitoring for high-risk patients.

In behavioral health, Riverside expanded services by doubling the space for its Pathways Program, launching an ABA (applied behavioral analysis) therapy program, and pursuing a major inpatient unit renovation to improve care and increase patient privacy.

To address social determinants of health, particularly food insecurity, Riverside has established a central food pantry and additional pantries at various sites to ensure patients have access to nutritious food. It is funded in part by the hospital and employee donations.

Investing in the Health of the Community

In 2024, Riverside contributed over $68.7 million in community benefits at cost, including more than $48 million in subsidized health services. As a nonprofit hospital, Riverside invests in services that may not generate profit but are essential to community health. 

Examples include the Pembroke clinic, which offers free care in one of Illinois’s poorest communities, and ambulance services in rural areas that ensure emergency access despite financial losses. Additionally, Riverside continues to provide obstetrics (OB) care, a service many hospitals are cutting due to low reimbursement, because it is vital to local families.

Riverside also invested over $136,000 in language assistance services, which have had a significant real-world impact, especially given the county’s growing Hispanic population, now around 16–17%. Many residents have limited English proficiency, and providing language access ensures effective communication in critical settings like the emergency room, enabling accurate diagnosis and care for non-English-speaking patients.

“We have a language line, we have interpreters. And, we implemented a robust initiative for reaching out to our Spanish-speaking community,” shares Kambic. “We actually pay our staff to get certified in Spanish. And then, we pay them extra to be interpreters for us. We've converted our website into Spanish as well, and we're rolling out myChart in Spanish. There are a lot of efforts within the Spanish-speaking population.”

Why Continued Education Is So Vital

Kambic emphasizes that investing in staff education and training is vital because education is the "great equalizer," offering individuals from any background the opportunity to succeed. He remarked on his own experience of growing up in humble circumstances and advancing through scholarships and tuition assistance to earn his bachelor’s and master’s degrees—illustrating how continued education empowers personal and professional growth.

“I'm a big believer in identifying how we can help our employees continue their education. We have all sorts of scholarships through our foundation, which community folks have funded. But then, we also have tuition reimbursement. We reimburse for certain certifications for ongoing education,” says Kambic. “Leadership at Riverside really values education and puts our money where our mouth is to help our staff achieve greater heights.”

Looking Toward the Future

Riverside’s future goals include several major initiatives to expand and improve care. A key project is a $30 million investment in a state-of-the-art inpatient behavioral health facility, which will provide more private rooms and enhanced care. They are also expanding ABA therapy services for children with autism—filling a critical gap in local resources. 

Additionally, Riverside is growing its population health program through partnerships with home care and ambulance services to offer integrated mobile health visits. These visits, provided free of charge, help monitor patients at home, ensure medication adherence, and address safety concerns—especially for seniors and those with chronic conditions.

For more information on Riverside's community benefit report click here.