Wellmark's solutions for rural mental health care

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Join Wellmark’s Executive Vice President of Health Equity, Access and Improvement, Laura Jackson, as she shares how Wellmark is taking on rural health care challenges through strategic partnerships.

Making rural health care a priority

Rural communities are facing serious health care challenges. And a significant number of Iowans and South Dakotans are feeling it.

According to the 2020 U.S. Census Bureau, 36 percent of Iowans live in a rural county. In South Dakota, 43 percent call rural and/or frontier counties home. Rural Iowans and South Dakotans are experiencing a severe shortage of health care professionals, limited access to medical services and higher rates of chronic diseases.

Laura Jackson leads Wellmark’s Health Equity, Access and Improvement Division, which is working to address barriers to health by operating upstream and outside the health care system. This division brings together leaders to analyze challenges through data, provide resources and support to communities, advocate for policy change, support research efforts, develop evidence-based solutions and make investments where they are needed most. The goal is to implement changes that will benefit future generations.

One example is the Iowa Rural Vitality Coalition, where Wellmark and our community partners are working to empower rural residents to make changes that improve their health, so they need health care less.

Join the conversation with the Health Matters podcast

Want to learn more about how Wellmark is supporting rural health? Check out the Health Matters podcast. From mental health to pharmacy spend, each episode features valuable insights from Wellmark experts on trending health care topics employers care most about. Watch or listen today.