DEL NORTE — The Top 20 Critical Access Hospitals, including Rio Grande Hospital, scored best among critical access hospitals as determined by The Chartis Center for Rural Health CCRH for overall performance and quality. The rankings were recently announced by the National Rural Health Association (NRHA). NRHA is a nonprofit organization working to improve the health and wellbeing of rural Americans and providing leadership on rural health issues through advocacy, communications, education, and research. NRHA membership is made up of 21,000 diverse individuals and organizations, all of whom share the common bond of an interest in rural health.

Forty “best practice” designations were also given to facilities that have achieved success in one of two key areas of performance, based on Index results: 1) quality: a rating of hospital performance based on the percentile rank across ruralrelevant process of care measures, and 2) patient perspective: a rating of hospital performance based on the percentile rank across all 10 HCAHPS domains. “NRHA is committed to ensuring our members have the best information to manage their hospitals,” says Brock Slabach, NRHA membership services senior vice president. “We’re pleased to recognize the accomplishments of these rural hospitals.”

To receive the honor of one of the top 20 Critical Access Hospital (CAH), you needed to achieve success in overall performance. In the United States, there are more than 1300 CAHs, with 32 in Colorado. Rio Grande Hospital (RGH) was the only one in Colorado to receive such a high honor.

“We are often told that we are like family; we strive to deliver quality care and services to our community – that’s our mission! They can depend on us.” said Eve Timberlake, Development & Communications Officer at RGH, “This honor a testament to that. We are proud of our physicians, providers, staff, and board for consistently helping us to achieve such accolades.

” The list of Top 20 winners and best practice recipients, in alphabetical order and by category, is included below:

Avera Hand County Memorial Hospital, Miller, S.D.

Brodstone MemorialHospital, Superior, Neb. CHI

St. Alexius HealthCarrington, Carrington, N.D.

Clay County MedicalCenter , Clay Center, Kan.

Gove County MedicalCenter , Quinter, Kan.

Howard County MedicalCenter, Saint Paul, Neb.

Jamestown Regional MedicalCenter, Jamestown, N.D.

Kingman Community Hospital, Kingman, Kan.

Mayo Clinic Health System – Red Cedar, Menomonie, Wis.

Mayo Clinic Health System in Saint James Saint James, Minn.

Miners’ Colfax MedicalCenter, Raton, N.M.

Osborne County MemorialHospital, Osborne, Kan.

Rio Grande Hospital, Del Norte, Colo. * Sabetha Community Hospital , Sabetha, Kan.

Sanford Mayville MedicalCenter Mayville, N.D.

ThedaCare Medical Center – Waupaca,Waupaca, Wis.

Transylvania RegionalHospital, Brevard, N.C.

Upland Hills Health , Dodgeville, Wis.

Wallowa Memorial Hospital, Enterprise, Ore.

Westfields Hospital and Clinic , New Richmond, Wis