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Description
Project Overview:
Located in Brookings County, South Dakota, Brookings Health System (Brookings Health) is a vital economic and healthcare hub, providing crucial employment and access to care. This assessment provides a comprehensive evaluation of the profound impacts of Brookings Health on the county economy, and the accessibility and affordability of healthcare services to rural populations in the surrounding areas. Rural community hospitals serve as foundational drivers of local economies. Their operations necessitate a substantial local workforce, encompassing a wide array of positions from clinical to administrative, representing a considerable labor expense. Indeed, numerous hospitals rank among the premier individual employers within their respective local and regional economies. The first part of the assessment evaluates the hospital’s economic impact on Brookings County’s economy by leveraging the 2020-2024 Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages through the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the hospital’s 2020-2024 employment and payroll data. The analysis incorporates both direct and indirect effects, with the latter, also known as “multiplier” or “ripple” effects, being quantified through the application of economic multipliers that capture the broader influence of hospital operations and labor expenditures on the local and regional economic landscape. The second part of the assessment evaluates the hospital’s pivotal role in delivering accessible and affordable healthcare to local communities. Drawn from 2019-2024 data extracted from the Inpatient and Outpatient Data Bases compiled by the South Dakota Association of Healthcare Organizations (SDAHO), this study examines the hospital’s role in rural healthcare service delivery, attributing the observed impacts to variations in travel expenses and service charges between Brookings Health and its competitors. Travel time and distance along rural road networks are calculated to determine the nearest competitor for equivalent services. This data is then used in a simulation analysis to quantify the financial burden on patients if they accessed these alternative facilities. Data on the average charge per visit for the period 2019-2024 is employed to evaluate variations in service pricing between Brookings Health and its closest competitors within each community across the hospital’s service area. The study additionally explores the demographics, financial data, and residential areas of patients utilizing the hospital’s medical services from 2019 to 2024.
Publication Date
9-2-2025
Publisher
South Dakota State University
Disciplines
Demography, Population, and Ecology | Regional Sociology | Rural Sociology | Sociology
Recommended Citation
Zhang, Weiwei, "The Impacts of Brookings Health System on the Economy of Brookings County and Rural Health in South Dakota" (2025). Center for Rural Vitality and Community Well-being Project Reports. 4.
https://openprairie.sdstate.edu/census_data_project-reports/4
Included in
Demography, Population, and Ecology Commons, Regional Sociology Commons, Rural Sociology Commons
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