Northwest Iowa — A group that provides comprehensive advisory services and analytics to the healthcare industry has named their 100 top critical access hospitals. Fifteen of them are in Iowa, and of those 15, three are in our wider area, with one of those in our primary coverage area.
The Chartis Center for Rural Health has unveiled its 2019 Top 100 Critical Access Hospitals. The fifteen in Iowa represent a number far higher than in any other state. Regarded as one of the industry’s most significant designations of performance excellence, the Chartis Top 100 Critical Access Hospitals is based upon the results of the Hospital Strength INDEX from iVantage Health Analytics. Critical Access Hospitals are typically small facilities that serve large rural areas, often one or more counties. Iowa has 82 of them. Only Kansas has more, with 83.
Chartis tells us their framework is used nationally by state offices of rural health, health systems and rural hospitals to measure and monitor rural hospital performance and is the foundation for several national rural recognition programs and legislative initiatives.
In our area, Orange City Area Health System is on the list of the top 100 Critical Access Hospitals in the nation. Not far away, so are the Cherokee Regional Medical Center in Cherokee and the Floyd Valley Hospital in Le Mars.
Other Iowa facilities on the Top 100 Critical Access Hospitals list are
· CHI Health Mercy Corning
· Pella Regional Health Center
· CHI Health Missouri Valley
· Greater Regional Health, Creston
· Henry County Health Center, Mount Pleasant
· Humboldt County Memorial Hospital
· Loring Hospital, Sac City
· Mahaska Health, Oskaloosa
· Mitchell County Regional Health, Osage
· Montgomery County Memorial Hospital, Red Oak
· Myrtue Medical Center, Harlan
· Pella Regional Health Center
· UnityPoint Health-Jones Regional Medical Center, Anamosa
Chartis also announced its Top 100 Rural and Community Hospitals and that list includes four Iowa hospitals, two of which are near us — Lakes Regional Healthcare in Spirit Lake, and the
Spencer Hospital. The other two are a little further away, but are still in the wider northwest Iowa area — St. Anthony Regional Hospital in Carroll and UnityPoint Health-Trinity Regional Medical Center in Fort Dodge.
Michael Topchik, national leader of the Chartis Center for Rural Health says that in an era of downward pressure on rural hospital revenues, Chartis’s yearly top 100 lists are established across the industry as a bellwether for provider performance. He says that from one year to the next, the top 100 lists are never static, which Chartis sees as a strong indicator of how proactive hospitals are when it comes to pushing for performance improvement in key areas such as quality, outcomes, patient safety, market share and finance. He says, “We’re delighted to recognize this year’s top 100 rural providers and showcase their efforts to deliver quality care efficiently and cost-effectively.”
