Livingston HealthCare (LHC) has recently been named in the top 20 out of over 1,300 Critical Access Hospitals (CAHs) in the United States by the National Rural Health Association (NRHA) for the fourth year in a row. The classification is based on a study from The Chartis Center for Rural Health, a comprehensive advisory and analytics services firm dedicated to the healthcare industry.
The Top 20 Critical Access Hospital winners are those hospitals that have achieved success in overall performance based on a composite rating from eight indices of strength: inpatient market share, outpatient market share, quality, outcomes, patient perspectives, cost, charge and financial stability. The ranking appears in the iVantage Health Analytics Hospital Strength INDEX, which is touted as the industry’s most objective and comprehensive assessment of rural hospital performance in the country.
Livingston HealthCare received a 98.9 percent overall score, compared to a median score of 79.3 for all other Montana CAHs. This places LHC’s overall performance in the top 2% of the 2,264 rural hospitals that were evaluated. In addition to LHC, there have been six rural hospitals nationally that have achieved Top 20 ranking four times, including Montana hospitals Barrett Memorial Hospital in Dillon and Central Montana Medical Center in Lewistown. Nationally, two hospitals have achieved the Top 20 ranking five times, and two have received it six times.
Montana tied with North Dakota for the greatest number of Top 20 CAHs per state, with four each. The three other Montana hospitals joining LHC on the Top 20 CAH list in 2019 are: Barrett Memorial Hospital (Dillon), Central Montana Medical Center (Lewistown), and Community Hospital of Anaconda.
“We are thrilled to have achieved the Top 20 designation for the fourth year in a row,” stated Deb Anczak, CEO of Livingston HealthCare. “It’s a direct reflection of the entire LHC team’s commitment to excellence. Each member of the organization plays a pivotal role in providing expert, compassionate care to our patients and their families.”
The Hospital Strength INDEX tracks performance metrics for more than 4,000 acute care hospitals, including over 2,000 rural and Critical Access Hospitals. It’s the first rating system to include the country’s more than 1,300 Critical Access Hospitals, a federal designation for small rural hospitals with 25 inpatient beds or less.