Tahoe Forest presents 2025 community health needs assessment; board accepts report

Tahoe Forest Health System President and CEO Anna Roth gave the Board of Supervisors an overview of the system's services and expansion plans and presented key findings from the hospital's 2025 community health needs assessment.

The assessment, developed by Tahoe Forest's population health team and led in public presentation by population health analyst Lizzie Hennessy, combined secondary county- and census-level data with nearly 700 locally collected population-survey responses, 61 key-informant surveys and multiple focus groups, including Spanish-language outreach. Hennessy said the CHNA is intended to "hear a community voice" beyond what appears in electronic health records and to guide the health system's allocation of resources.

Hennessy summarized the assessment's priority needs: access to primary and preventive care and oral health, continuing mental-health needs despite recent investments, growing health-related social needs (notably food and housing insecurity), caregiving burdens and substance use trends, including youth substance use. She told the board the CHNA uses trend analysis and comparisons to state and national benchmarks to identify where the region lags and to prioritize areas for action.

Board members asked about recruitment of primary-care providers and workforce challenges. Roth said Tahoe Forest is expanding outpatient capacity through three projects and is relying on a combination of physician and advanced-practice providers while pursuing broader workforce strategies. Roth described the hospital as small in inpatient bed count but large in outpatient volume and noted plans to increase clinic capacity to address access gaps.

After the presentation and limited public comment, the board voted to accept the CHNA and thanked hospital staff for the report and planned community engagement. The recorded roll call showed the motion passed unanimously among voting members in attendance (District 1 absent).