Bozeman Health seeking public input on community health needs

Bozeman Health has launched its 2026 Community Health Needs Assessment, which aims to identify key healthcare needs in the community.

The survey comes as Bozeman Health seeks to double the size of its emergency room at Deaconess Regional Medical Center.

Gallatin County residents are invited to participate in the confidential surveys through April 30 to share thoughts on local healthcare needs, barriers to access, and priority areas for improvement.

“It’s a really impactful way to share your voice and help shape what programing can look like in our community,” Kami Panepucci, Bozeman Health system manager of community health improvement and partnerships, said. “It’s a really important (tool) for Bozeman Health and how we invest in our community.”

Gallatin County residents can access the 15-minute survey digitally. Additionally, Professional Research Consultants, the independent research firm Bozeman Health is partnering on the CHNA, will be conducting random phone surveys from a 406 number.

“Names are never recorded and all results are (only) reported in summarized versions,” Erin Schaible, Bozeman Health manager of communications, said.

The CHNA is used to identify the top health priorities of the community and determine how the Bozeman Health Community Benefit Fund is allocated over the next three years.

In 2024, the Community Benefit Fund dispersed nearly $51 million back into the community through the fund, Schaible said. Funding falls into several categories, including subsidizes health services, charity care and community health improvement systems.

In addition to informing Bozeman Health’s funding priorities, the CHNA findings are shared with Bozeman Health’s community partners, including the Gallatin City-County Health Department, HRDC, and One Health/CHP, that use the date to inform their programing, Panepucci said.

The CHNA results draw on data collected from phone and online surveys administered to Gallatin County citizens, targeted questionnaires sent to community leaders, and a secondary review of CDC, and Youth Behavioral Risk Survey data.

“From start to finish, the process takes about two years,” Panepucci said.

She said it took six months to create the questions and assemble a steering committee, six months conducting surveys, four to five months analyzing the data and finalizing the CHNA, and three to four months creating an action plan. Bozeman Health has been repeating this process every three years since 2011.