Officials with the Cass County Memorial Hospital in Atlantic announced today (Thursday), the facility has received a 2017 Performance Leadership Award, from The Chartis Center for Rural Health/iVantage Health Analytics, and the National Organization of State Office of Rural Health (NOSORH), for overall excellence in two categories, Quality and Outcomes. The award recognizes that CCMH has performed among the top quartile of all rural hospitals in the nation. The awards were announced in conjunction with National Rural Health Day, which is celebrated every year on the third Thursday in November. CEO Brett Altman said “We are very pleased to receive this recognition of being in the top 25% of over 2200 rural hospitals across the country. This is a direct result of the outstanding team we have who make these quality and outcome measures a top priority with every patient, every time.”

The rankings are determined each year using iVantage Health Analytics’ Hospital Strength INDEX®, the industry’s most comprehensive and objective assessment of rural hospital performance. In partnership with NOSORH, iVantage Health Analytics has developed a data-driven program designed to identify excellence across a broad spectrum of indicators relevant to hospital performance and patient care. The Hospital Strength INDEX captures performance metrics for all rural and Critical Access Hospitals. Leveraging data from public data sources, INDEX aggregates data from more than 50 individual metrics into three major categories and eight pillars to derive a single strength overall rating for each facility.

Michael Topchik, National Leader of the Chartis Center for Rural Health, stated that “On this important day, as we celebrate the power of rural, it’s great to recognize these top performers who are excelling in managing risk, achieving higher quality, securing better outcomes, increasing patient satisfaction, or operating at a lower cost than their peers. These leaders serve as a benchmark for other rural facilities as they strive to achieve similar results and provide a blueprint for how to successfully run a hospital and serve their communities amidst today’s uncertainty and mounting pressures.”