Gifford Medical Center in Randolph was recently named among the Top 100 Critical Access Hospitals in the nation in a first-ever comprehensive rating of critical access hospitals.
The Top 100 list was complied by The National Rural Health Association (NRHA) using the “Hospital Strength Index,” an objective way of measuring 56 different performance metrics in three categories: market strength, value-based strength and financial strength. Only three Vermont hospitals, including Copley Hospital in Morrisville and North Country Hospital in Newport, made the list. There are 1,327 critical access hospitals in the United States, according to the Rural Assistance Center.
“We are truly honored to be recognized as one of the top performing critical access hospitals in the country,” says Linda Minsinger, vice present of Patient Care Services at Gifford. “The combination of expertise from our clinicians, the training and dedication of our employees, and guidance from our volunteer Board of Directors has allowed Gifford to enhance our operations and keep our focus on our top priority: the patients.”
NRHA is a nonprofit organization working to improve the health and well-being of rural Americans and providing leadership on rural health issues through advocacy, communications, education and research.
“Now is the time for us to advocate the analytics and transparency of the rural health sector,” says Alan Morgan, chief executive officer of NRHA. “We play such a critical role in providing needed care to Americans, yet our challenges are completely different in access while equally complex in delivery as urban hospitals.”
The Hospital Strength Index helps identify those hospitals that are best prepared for success under the new health care reforms. The index includes a unique set of measures rating market strength, value-based strength (quality, outcomes, patient perspectives, and cost and charge indicators) and long term financial strength as key pillars for benchmarking and setting new goals under health reform.
A critical access hospital (CAH) is a hospital certified to receive cost-based reimbursement from Medicare. This program is intended to reduce hospital closures in rural areas, promotes a process for improving rural health care and focuses on community needs. CAHs must have a maximum of 25 acute care inpatient beds and provide 24-hour emergency services, with medical staff onsite. CAHs must be located in a rural area and be more than 35 miles from another hospital, or 15 miles from another hospital in mountainous terrain or areas with only secondary roads.
