SVMC Community Health Needs Assessment 2021 - Catalog - Page 10
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Methodology
Community Description
Drawing the Community Boundary
SVMC’s community of 75,000 people (referred to as SVMC’s service area within this assessment), spans
many towns within five counties and three states. A full listing of towns and their associated zip codes
can be found below.
Manchester
Hoosick Falls
Benningto
n
Pownal
Williamstown
Wilmington
For this assessment, SVMC’s service
area was defined by looking at the total
number of SVMC patient “encounters”
in fiscal year 2019. An encounter
includes a patient utilizing any of
SVMC’s inpatient or outpatient services.
These encounters were organized by
the zip code in which the patient
primarily resides. The total number of
SVMC patient encounters per zip code
was divided by the population of that
zip code tabulation area (ZCTA) as
reported by the US Census Bureau. The
resulting number for each zip code
indicated the number of per capita
SVMC encounters. Zip codes were
included within SVMC’s service area if
they generated one encounter per
three people per year. This method,
though slightly complex, is far more
reflective of SVMC’s true patient
population than a solely geographically
devised boundary (e.g. all communities
within a one-hour drive of SVMC’s
hospital campus).
Throughout this assessment, when county-level data is provided, the four zip codes within Rutland
County are typically not included. These zip codes are primarily served by Rutland Regional Medical
Center, and in-depth data analysis for all of Rutland County can be found within that facility’s CHNA.
When data is reported for SVMC’s service area, however, the Rutland County zip codes are included—
analysis at the zip code-level allows for inclusion of only the towns that truly fall in SVMC’s service area.
Advances in technology and the availability of on-demand at-home telehealth services has started to
alter the boundaries and conception of SVMC’s service area. In light of these changes, the definition of
SVMC’s service area will likely need to be considered carefully in future assessments.
Southwestern Vermont Medical Center
Community Health Needs Assessment 2021