Fillmore County Hospital recently received two awards that put the organization among the top performers in the state of Nebraska. Director of Quality, Shari Michl, accepted these awards on behalf of FCH at the Nebraska Critical Access Hospital Conference on Quality in November.
The first award was the 2022 Rural Provider Excellence in Quality Award, as recognized by the NE Department of Health and Human Services and the Chartis Center for Rural Health. This award honors the Top 10 among the state’s 63 Critical Access Hospitals on the Medicare Beneficiary Quality Improvement Project measures (MBQIP). There are 21 quality measures that make up these metrics, and FCH performed at a very high level on these, enough to make it into the Top 10 for the State.
The second award was The Performance Leadership Award for Patient Perspective, again presented by the Chartis Center for Rural Health. This award recognized the top quarter of NE hospitals on high patient satisfaction scores. FCH routinely outperforms the state and national averages for various inpatient measures such as physician and nurse communication, discharge planning, quietness and cleanliness of the environment, recommending FCH to others, and overall rating of care received at FCH.
The Chartis Rural Hospital Performance index is the industry’s most comprehensive and objective assessment of rural hospital performance. Michael Topchik, National Leader for the Chartis Center, comments, “Although the last two years have placed unprecedented pressure on the rural health safety net, the dedication to serving the community that we’re so accustomed to seeing from rural hospitals across the county hasn’t wavered.” FCH CEO, Chris Nichols echoes this sentiment, “We’re extremely proud of these accomplishments, because it means our resolve and focus was stronger than the noise surrounding the pandemic on any given day these past couple of years. Our staff showed resilience and kept focused on the most important things, and the recognition is much deserved.”
