Berks hires firm to study health care needs of its residents

Berks County has hired a firm to investigate the health care needs of its residents.

The commissioners voted during their weekly board meeting Thursday to hire Health Management Associates for about $168,000 to gather information regarding the health of county residents and create recommendations to enhance the delivery of health services.

The study aims to shine a light on any gaps and look at whether the county can step in to help fill them.

“We need to understand what is out there in the community and what we do well in the health care realm and what we need to improve on,” Commissioner Kevin Barnhardt said during a meeting last fall when the board approved sending out a request for proposal seeking a company to conduct the study.

The study will be a wide-ranging review, covering just about every aspect of health care from socioeconomic factors to health indicators to emergency preparedness. It will also look at what existing services are available in the community and how the county can support them.

Barnhardt said Thursday that he was pleased to finally be moving forward with the study. He said the study should take about six to nine months to complete, and the cost will be covered using federal funding provided through the American Rescue Plan.

“I’m very curious as to what the results will be once the study has been completed,” he said.

When the commissioners discussed the study previously, they stressed they were unsure exactly where it would lead.

“We are not going into this with a preconceived model,” Commissioners Chairman Christian Leinbach said at the time. “We want to go in and find what we don’t know, find out about delivery of services. And we have to consider cost. If we don’t consider cost then we might as well build a whole new hospital, it doesn’t matter. Cost is a factor.”

The decision to move forward with the study comes amid a long effort by a small group of residents who have been pushing the idea of creating a health department. That effort predates the pandemic, but the arrival of COVID only made their calls for its creation louder.

The commissioners have made clear the study is not meant to determine whether the county needs its own health department.

Source: Berkshire mont