Every three years, Centra administers a Community Health Needs Assessment (CHNA) for each region where its four hospitals are located. The completion of these CHNAs, along with the relevant action plans, informs where we place our resources to care holistically for our communities.
The CHNAs provide insights into health disparities and unmet needs, as well as identification of community resources, strengths, and perceptions. In 2024, we completed the most recent assessments for Bedford, Farmville, and Lynchburg. Implementation plans are then created, including a comprehensive strategy to address the priority needs for each region.
Key priorities in our three service areas include Access to Healthcare Services, Mental Health, Substance Use Disorders, and access to Mental Health Services, and Food Insecurity and nutrition.
Creating these implementation plans involved collaboration across Centra’s teams and engaged community leaders from each region, representing organizations that are often the “boots on the ground” to address a wide range of community needs. The implementation plans are a collective effort that brings together numerous organizations to create solutions for the needs identified through each assessment.
A few specific examples of how Centra is addressing CHNA priorities from 2021 include:
- Centra Bedford Memorial Hospital (CBMH) enhances access to healthcare through active participation in the Bedford Area Resource Council (BARC) and its committees to provide education, programs and screenings for the residents in its service area. CBMH also participates in Bedford Town Health sessions.
- Centra has taken great strides to address the region's mental health services and access.
- The EmPATH Unit opened in September 2023 to provide emergency psychiatric care as an extension of the LGH Emergency Department. This helped to relieve congestion in the ED and provide care tailored to individuals experiencing a mental health crisis.
- The Piedmont Psychiatric Adult Urgent Care at Virginia Baptist Hospital began accepting patients in November 2024 as a specialty urgent care center for adults aged 18 and older experiencing mental health concerns.
- The new behavioral health hospital that will be a part of Centra’s Simons Run campus, set to open in 2026, will provide state-of-the-art inpatient behavioral health care.
- Launched in March 2023, Centra’s Remote Home Monitoring Program helps patients manage chronic conditions like diabetes, heart failure and hypertension from home and helps reduce hospital readmissions. Participants receive a kit with Bluetooth-enabled devices that send real-time health data to Centra’s Command Center Team via tablet.
- Centra Southside Medical Center is conducting telehealth urgent care visits in an eff ort to provide increased access to healthcare. In addition, the Buckingham Primary Care practice opened in 2023.
- Centra has taken great strides to address the region's mental health services and access.
Ultimately, these finalized implementation plans will play a key part in how Centra and other community organizations make decisions to address the needs of our communities over the next three years.
To view the full implementation plans, click on the links below:
- View the 2024 Bedford Implementation Plan
- View the 2024 Farmville Implementation Plan
- View the 2024 Lynchburg Implementation Plan
