Ashland - Community Health Needs Assessment and Community Health Improvement Plan FY26-28

UK King's Daughters Community Health Needs Assessment April 2025

Approved August 7, 2025

Community Health Improvement Plan

UK King's Daughters Mission

“To care. To serve. To heal.” UK King’s Daughters (UKKD) fulfills its mission through its commitment toward addressing the health needs in the community by conducting a Community Health Needs Assessment (CHNA) and developing an Implementation Strategy every three years.

Purpose of a Hospital’s Implementation Strategy

A Community Health Implementation Plan (CHIP) outlines how a hospital plans to address community health needs and is intended to satisfy the requirements set forth by state law and the Internal Revenue Code Section 501(r)(3) regarding Community Health Needs Assessments and Implementation Strategy. The CHIPprocess is meant to align King’s Daughters initiatives and programs with goals, objectives and indicators that address significant community health needs described in the CHNA.

Community Definition

King’s Daughters patients collectively come from a large geographic area. For purposes of this report, the community served by King’s Daughters includes Boyd, Carter and Greenup counties in Kentucky, and Lawrence County, Ohio.

About UK King's Daughters

King’s Daughters serves a catchment area of approximately 750,000 people in eastern Kentucky, southern Ohio, and western West Virginia. It includes the 455-bed Medical Center located in downtown Ashland, Ky. King’s Daughters employs over 5,500 people, including more than 400 primary care and specialist physicians, advance practice providers and allied health professionals. King’s Daughters provides intensive, intermediate and acute care services across a broad range of specialties including heart, vascular, orthopedics, oncology, gastroenterology, neurology, neurosurgery, maternity, pediatrics and neonatal care.

How the Plan Was Developed

The Community Health Implementation Plan (CHIP) was developed after the comprehensive Community Health Needs Assessment (CHNA) was completed. Please refer to the complete CHNAfor the full report. Strategies and action plans were developed based on a consensus among a steering committee members taking into account input from various disciplines.

The organization intends to focus on the priority areas below and undertake strategies to meet the identified community health needs. Most of the strategies and initiatives will be coordinated and advanced through teams comprised of representatives from King’s Daughters and other community organizations. This CHIP will be reviewed annually during the three-year lifespan of the 2025 CHNA to determine if changes should be made to better address the dynamic healthcare needs of the community.

Preventive Health and Education

  • Provide education on chronic diseases and preventive care.
  • Increase community education on physical activity, healthy eating, lifestyles and wellness.
  • Monetary sponsorships to community-based organizations.

Mental Health/Substance Use Disorder

  • Provide community education on suicide prevention and mental health awareness.
  • Investigate opportunities to develop mental health resources/programming in the community.
  • Monetary sponsorships to community-based organizations.

Transportation

  • Evaluate potential solutions for reliable transportation solutions in the community.
  • Develop a list of available transportation services and establish recommendations for expanded services.

Steering Committee Members

  • Sara Marks, President/CEO
  • Mark Detherage, M.D., Chief Medical Officer
  • Stacy Caudill, M.D., Chief Medical Officer
  • Brandi Fields, Vice President, Clinical Services and Quality Improvement
  • Ryan Ison, Vice President, Integrated Practices
  • Elaine Corbitt, Executive Director, Communications/Community Engagement
  • Scott Hill, Executive Director, Community Engagement
  • Diva Justice, Director, Community Health
  • Kerry Tague, Director, Business Development/Strategic Planning
  • Kati Collins, Director, Social Work
  • Kayla Murphy, Director, Distant Care and Pediatric Services, Medical Practice Management
  • Lisa Ashley, Director, Primary Care Service Lines, Medical Practice Management
  • Debi Colvin, Senior Nurse Leader, Behavioral Health Management
  • Jamie Ward, Director, Home Health
  • Jen Sword, Data Analyst, Integrated Services
  • Kimberly Osborne, APRN, Director, Wellness & Recovery

Prioritized Health Needs

Preventive Health and Education

Actions UK King's Daughters plans to take to address the health need.

Preventive Health and Education (Chronic Conditions)

Initiatives/Programs

  1. Heart Disease: Promote heart disease awareness through education and screenings.
  2. Cancer: Promote cancer awareness through education and screenings.
  3. Diabetes: Promote pre diabetes and diabetes awareness through education and screenings.

Reportable Metrics/Anticipated Impact:

  1. 12 activities annually
  2. 8 activities annually
  3. 500 people annually

Preventive Health and Education (Physical Activity/Wellness)

Initiatives/Programs

  1. Develop interactive programs related to health, wellness and/or prevention focused on elementary, middle and high school youth.
  2. Provide community education and screening programs related to wellness and nutrition focused on adults.
  3. Provide community education on healthy eating and nutrition focused on youth.

Reportable Metrics/Anticipated Impact:

  1. Reach 1,500 annually
  2. 6 activities annually
  3. 3 Mobile Markets annually

Sponsorships for CHNA and CHIP Initiatives

Initiatives/Programs

  1. Provide monetary sponsorships to community-based organizations who provide programming and events that support UK King's Daughters' CHNA and CHIP.

Reportable Metrics/Anticipated Impact:

  1. Sponsor 40 events/programs annually among all priority areas.

Collaborations

  • Healthcare providers
  • Health departments
  • Businesses
  • Civic organizations
  • Senior centers
  • Schools
  • Faith-based organizations
  • Federally qualified health centers
  • Fairs and festivals
  • Retail establishments
  • Social service agencies
  • Mental health organizations
  • Drug Court
  • Community centers and coalitions

Significant Health Needs Not Addressed

IRS regulations require the CHNA Implementation Strategy include a brief explanation of why a hospital facility does not intend to address any significant health needs identified through the CHNA.

As described in detail in the CHNA, King’s Daughters prioritized three significant health needs during the CHNA process, including:

Preventive Health and Education

  • Access to health services/navigating healthcare services
  • Chronic health conditions (high blood pressure, diabetes, heart disease, cancer, chronic pain)
  • Food insecurity/lack of healthy nutrition
  • Obesity
  • Physical inactivity
  • Senior services
  • Smoking/vaping
  • Mental Health/Substance Use Disorder
  • Transportation

Other health needs identified in the CHNA were reviewed and were not specifically addressed in the development of this Implementation Strategy as they were considered to be outside the scope of services provided by UKKD. However, there may be opportunities for UKKD to support organizations addressing these needs.

  • Childcare
  • Poverty
  • Unintentional injury
  • Poor dental health
  • Lack of affordable housing

Conclusion

King’s Daughters believes the new programs to be developed and expanded will respond to the significant health needs of the community. Through the resources identified and collaboration with the community, the impact of these new programs will be significant.

Comments regarding the Community Health Needs Assessment and/or Implementation Strategy can be submitted to the organization by contacting:

Scott Hill
Executive Director, Community Engagement
[email protected]

Diva Justice
Director, Community Health
[email protected]