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Moving Health Forward

No matter what inspires you, Avera is here to help you keep moving forward. As your health partner, we listen to your health needs and goals, and help you achieve them through care and coverage. We work through people, innovation and technology to ensure we’re ready to care for you at every stage of life, so you can be your healthiest self for whatever keeps you moving.

Avera is a regional health system comprised of 315 locations in 100 communities in five states across the Upper Midwest. Avera serves a population of 1 million throughout a geographical footprint of 72,000 square miles.

Avera is the health ministry of the Benedictine Sisters of Yankton, SD, and the Presentation Sisters of Aberdeen, SD.

As a health ministry rooted in the Gospel, Avera’s mission is to make a positive impact in the lives and health of persons and communities by providing quality services guided by Christian values.

Avera seeks to heal the whole person – body, mind and spirit – as we live out our three gospel values of Compassion, Hospitality and Stewardship.

A Message From Our CEO

Bob Sutton

Welcome to Avera’s 2022 Annual Report. Thank you for your interest in our health ministry.

Avera is midway through our current Strategic Plan that’s centered around our values – hospitality, compassion and stewardship.

Our value of hospitality focuses on our employees. If we continue to develop a well-qualified, well-trained workforce who feel dedicated and committed to the Avera organization and our mission, we can’t help but take great care of our patients.

In health care, a strong workforce is absolutely essential to what we do every day. We continually strive to attract and retain top talent with an even greater focus on delivering high quality patient care.

Compassion means many things to us at Avera, but one important factor is to optimize the delivery of care and meet people where they are. One way we’re doing that is through virtual visits and telehealth.

Growth is a strategy under stewardship, specifically involving investments in the growth needs of our communities that have gradual or incremental growth in value.

Our mission is what differentiates us as a health care system and an organization, and whatever we do comes back to our mission.

It’s all part of “moving health forward.” Avera continues to look ahead with a renewed focus, to grow and enhance our health ministry, and meet our patients where they are through innovative technology.

I am grateful to our sponsors, the Benedictine and Presentation Sisters, the senior leadership and Board of Directors who faithfully serve alongside me, as well as all the people and partners who come together to form this great organization known as Avera. Together, we impact many lives for the greater good.

Sincerely,
Bob Sutton, President and CEO

Hello Healthy, Hello Life

Avera’s overarching branding message is Moving Health Forward, communicating our desire to move health forward – both as an organization and as individuals for better health. Top health care systems like Avera are always striving to stay on the leading edge. Because health is incredibly central to who we are, we want to help you feel your best, so you can be your best. And you can count on Avera to do so in the most innovative ways. Learn more at Avera.org/Forward

MISSION

Charity Care and Community Benefit

Avera’s mission involves making a positive impact upon the communities we serve, often accomplished through providing community benefits.

As a health care ministry, Avera provides care to all who come to us, regardless of their ability to pay.

By the numbers…

Charity care/financial assistance: $18,982,369
Unpaid costs of government programs: $35,174,919
Additional community benefits: $84,656,626

Total: $138,813,914

Examples of Community Benefits

Community health services and screenings
Health professions education
Subsidized services, including Careflight, emergency services, hospice care, transplant and more
Research
Financial and in-kind contributions
Community-building activities

young girl with outstretched arms and blanket

What Are Social Determinants of Health?

Look around you and consider everything that impacts your health and well-being. It’s more than health care.

Social determinants of health comprise all the factors that affect your entire health and quality of life, such as access to healthy foods and clean drinking water, decent housing, social connections and more.

Doctors and clinicians can give the best care while people are within our facilities, but if they return to environments where they don’t have access to nutritious foods, transportation or education we are only solving one piece of the puzzle.

That’s why Avera partners with nonprofit organizations that help us fulfill the Avera mission to have a positive impact in the lives of persons and communities. Through its community partnership program, Avera directs donations toward organizations that serve residents in areas that include food, housing, transportation, education, mental health and quality of life.

“Where you’re born, live and work can have a long-term effect on your health and well-being. As part of Avera’s mission, we work to improve these key indicators so people have a higher chance for success in making the most out of every opportunity. That’s important because the health of a community is only as healthy as its least healthy members,” said Rachael Sherard, Senior Vice President for Rural Health at Avera.

Gaps in the basic necessities make a big impact on the whole community as well as local economies. “A healthier community overall can have long-term effects on everyone, whether it’s lower health insurance premiums, shorter ER wait times, or amenities like parks and cultural opportunities to enjoy with your family,” Sherard said.

Community Partnerships

Avera’s mission to make a positive impact in the lives and health of persons and communities is a very broad, all-encompassing goal. While Avera makes a positive impact in terms of health and healing of the body, mind and spirit, there are aspects of our lives that go beyond health care: Our need for healthy food, clean water and decent housing. Our need for personal safety and the safety of our families. Our need for education. Our need for meaningful work. Our need for cultural expression and the arts.

And so Avera partners with many nonprofit organizations that align with our mission and help us expand and enhance this mission beyond our facilities.

Examples:

Avera supports Sioux Falls Thrive, which focuses on key needs of school-age children, including charitable food resources to remote neighborhoods. Sioux Falls Thrive identifies obstacles to student success and convenes action teams that realign community resources to meet the needs of disadvantaged families, from stable home environment to nutritious foods and safe, meaningful things to do when school is out.
Avera donations supported inclusive, accessible playgrounds including the Kiwanis Woodlot Park in Mitchell, SD, and Nano Nagle Playground at Storybook Land in Aberdeen, SD.
Avera contributed toward renovation of the Zeal building at Southeast Technical College to create a state-of-the-art Healthcare Simulation Center where students can learn everything from blood draws to surgery to emergency room training via simulation. This project will help address a critical shortage of health care workers in the area and support future workforce development.

GROWTH

Avera Continuum of Care

200 Primary and Specialty Clinics

60+ medical specialties
1,230 physicians and advanced practice providers

37 Hospitals

Tertiary hospital: Avera McKennan Hospital & University Health Center
36 Community and Critical Access Hospitals
1,680 beds

40 Senior Living,
Assisted Living,
AND Long-Term
Care Locations

1,876 long-term care and assisted living beds
247 apartments

Avera@Home Home Care & Hospice And Home Medical Equipment

26 locations
995 average patient census

Telemedicine

Virtual visits in primary care and numerous specialties
Emergency, critical care, pharmacy and more

Avera Health Insurance

Avera Health Plans and DAKOTACARE
Covering 84,500 lives

ALSO: Occupational Health | Therapy Locations | Sports Medicine and Fitness Center | Medical Research and Clinical Trials

2022 By the Numbers

315 Locations

100+Communities

5 States

72,000 Square Mile Footprint

20,500 Employees

2,200 Volunteers

1,230 Physicians and Advanced Practice Providers

Inpatient Discharges: 41,687
Outpatient Discharges: 1,086,697
Number of Clinic Visits: 1,862,295
Total Patient Visits: 2,990,679

Bricks and Mortar

List of top projects underway or completed in 2022

Avera Family Health Center – Dawley Farm, Sioux Falls, SD
Avera Behavioral Health Center new wing, Sioux Falls, SD
Avera Missouri River Health Center, Gettysburg, SD
Avera St. Anthony’s Hospital Emergency Department and Imaging Center, O’Neill, NE
Avera Specialty Hospital and Avera Medical Group finish/fit, Sioux Falls, SD

More Bricks and Mortar

Avera Gregory Hospital new health campus, Gregory, SD
Avera Marshall Regional Medical Center remodel at Bruce Street clinic and East College Drive building, Marshall, MN million
Avera Medical Group Windom clinic, Windom, MN
Avera Brady Health and Rehab expansion, Mitchell, SD
Walsh Family Village Kirby Place addition, Sioux Falls, SD

QUALITY

At Avera, we’re passionate about quality. Avera participates in systematic performance improvements that align with the National Strategy for Quality Improvement in Health Care priorities and goals.

Our Quality Plan aligns with the mission and vision of Avera, and considers the impact of the organization’s strategic and long-term goals.

You Are More than Cancer at Avera

As the region’s only accredited cancer network, Avera Cancer Institute is your partner in making more time, more adventures and more hellos a reality. In addition to evidence-based care and advanced technology, we give patients access to more options. For example, using genomic sequencing to identify targeted, personalized treatments. Through clinical trials and the latest approved treatments, we’re offering cellular therapy and immunotherapy. Plus our Navigation Center is a 24-hour support system that complements our compassionate and holistic care.

Avera Service Lines

Through Avera’s Service Line concept, physicians from across the system collaborate to identify best practices that result in consistent care, which in turn builds quality and reduces cost.

Stronger relationships between physicians, within and across specialties, result in better transitions of care, improving outcomes and creating a better care experience for patients.

Preventive Care and Cancer Screenings

Aligning with national recommendations, Avera Medical Group has updated cancer screening guidelines. This includes a new guideline that colon cancer screening should begin at age 45, rather than age 50. This is due to rising deaths among younger adults. The “gold standard” among colon screenings is colonoscopy, in which physicians can find and remove precancerous polyps before they develop into cancer.

Lung cancer screening through low-dose CT is recommended for people age 50-80 who have a 20-pack-per-year smoking history, who currently smoke or who have quit smoking within the last 15 years. Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in the U.S., yet is more treatable if it is caught early.

Behavioral Health Urgent Care

Avera Behavioral Health Urgent Care is a new front door to mental health services for people in crisis. This level of care is extremely rare in the region and across the country.

It’s open 24/7 at the new Helmsley Behavioral Health Center, the newly constructed wing of the Avera Behavioral Health Hospital in Sioux Falls. In the past, families and individuals have turned to medical emergency rooms at times of crisis, for example, suicidal thoughts. People outside of Sioux Falls are still encouraged to go to their nearest ER.

With a team that includes an advanced practice provider and an assessment counselor, the goal for Urgent Care is to safely handle the crisis and then refer patients and families to the most appropriate level of care, whether that’s inpatient admission, or referral to outpatient community resources.

And thanks to grant funding, navigation services help bridge the time between Urgent Care and an appointment with a psychiatrist and counselor, and to help ensure patients get connected to services.

Five Years of Growth for Avera Orthopedics

As the largest orthopedic physician team in the region, Avera Orthopedics expanded its reach across the Avera footprint with physicians and advanced practice providers over the past five years. Avera has added physicians focused on specific disciplines including:

Hand and wrist
Spine and spinal surgery
Joint replacement
Non-operative treatment options
Sports medicine
Orthopedic trauma
Pediatric orthopedics

Communities including Aberdeen, Brookings, Mitchell, Pierre, Sioux Falls and Yankton, SD, as well as O’Neill, NE, and Marshall, MN, all have robust orthopedic services with numerous outreach locations. Growth accommodates increasing demand with aging baby boomers, the popularity of athletics and lifelong active lifestyles.

Additional Recognition

Top care and top quality: that’s what people can expect from Avera, and our quality is verified by national recognition.

Key awards and recognitions:

Five Avera hospitals have been named 5-star facilities by the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS): Avera McKennan, Avera St. Luke’s Hospital, Avera Queen of Peace, Avera Heart Hospital and Avera Sacred Heart Hospital.
Several Avera hospitals earned high distinctions, including Top 100, Top 20 Rural & Community and Top 20 Critical Access Hospitals nationwide.
Avera earned the highest level of recognition as a Level 10 “Most Wired” health care organization from the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME) in its 2021 program. The recognition marks the 22nd time Avera was included in the survey as a top performer.
Avera Cancer Institute earned three-year accreditation through the Commission on Cancer, a quality program of the American College of Surgeons. This is the first time to receive the integrated network accreditation, which includes all six sites. Avera Cancer Institute also received three-year certification through the QOPI® Certification Program, LLC.

Other Avera awards across the system

Browse Major 2022 News Stories

Avera Foundation Reports Gifts of $46 Million in 2022

The Avera Foundation reports strong giving in 2022. During a time when nonprofit organizations are seeing decreases in their donor count, Avera supporters have increased.

August 16, 2022
Kirby Place Hospitality House Opens Near Avera McKennan Campus

Avera opens Kirby Place, an expanded hospitality house for patients and families near the campus of Avera McKennan Hospital & University Health Center.

June 23, 2022
Avera Health and Sema4 Announce Data-Driven Study to Advance Cancer Treatment

The Avera/Sema4 Oncology and Analytics Protocol (ASAP) study is expected to enable precision oncology care for thousands of patients.

June 1, 2022
Avera St. Luke’s Announces Building Project

Avera St. Luke’s Hospital announces a $17.25 million construction project that addresses key needs in Aberdeen, including behavioral health, women’s services and orthopedics.

May 9, 2022
Avera Receives $11 Million Gift to Support Capital Improvements

Avera announces a transformational gift to support patients, residents and families throughout Avera’s health system. Funds will be used for building updates and capital improvements.

April 5, 2022
Avera Observes Second Anniversary of COVID-19 Pandemic

The first two years of the pandemic saw Avera taking part in groundbreaking research, delivering innovative at-home care and taking a leadership role in vaccination.

March 10, 2022
Avera Ready to Open New Behavioral Health Wing

The Helmsley Behavioral Health Center adds new services including 24/7 Behavioral Health Urgent Care, observation, youth addiction care and partial hospitalization for youth.

March 3, 2022
Avera Launches ‘Moving Health Forward’ Campaign

Avera is launching an overarching branding campaign with the goal of moving health forward both as an organization and as individuals for better health.

January 11, 2022
Avera Marshall and Rural Health Care, Inc. Collaborate for Primary Care Clinic at New Location

Avera Marshall and RHCI will collaborate to operate a primary care clinic in Marshall as a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) and operate as Access Health – Marshall.

December 30, 2021

Avera is a health ministry rooted in the Gospel. Our mission is to make a positive impact in the lives and health of persons and communities by providing quality services guided by Christian values.

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