NBHH staff celebrates another Top 100 win

Once again, North Big Horn Hospital made the Chartis Center for Rural Health’s top 100 list out of 1,300 critical access hospitals considered for the honor. This is the second year in a row NBHH was recognized among the nation’s top rural hospitals based on the results of the Chartis rural hospital performance index.

“The Top 100 Critical Access Hospitals award program elevates the very best performers and helps create a roadmap for those seeking to improve financial and operational performance while continuing to care for the communities they serve,” said Michael Topchik, Executive Director, Chartis. “This is our 15th year recognizing the Top 100 Critical Access Hospitals and we’re thrilled to be able to celebrate this milestone with this year’s winners.”

The Chartis index is the industry’s most comprehensive and objective assessment of rural hospital performance. Leveraging publicly available data, the index is used nationwide by rural hospitals, health systems with rural affiliates, hospital associations and state offices of rural health to measure and monitor performance across a variety of areas impacting hospital operations and finance.

“I knew we were doing well, but it’s still really exciting because it shows the dedication of our team,” said Quality Manager Catherine Herman about the announcement.

Herman added that the hospital has mandatory reporting for Medicare and Medicaid that it does on a regular basis. It also reports volunteer data. As quality manager, Herman is tasked with gathering and reporting both the mandatory and volunteer data when necessary. She also leads the charge in terms of keeping overall staff efforts on target to keep the hospital’s quality ratings as high as possible. 

“Everyone in this organization works on quality,” explained Herman. “Every department is part of the plan. It really involves every department. Nobody is a ‘justa’ around here. Everyone matters.”

Herman noted that the kinds of surveys the hospital conducts involve every detail of a patient stay, including things like room cleanliness. She said there is a mentorship in place with Chartis that helps hospital management understand how to reach certain outcomes and goals.

Hospital CEO Eric Connell noted that the categories the hospital scored well are areas that count. 

“Our performance is driven by the metrics that matter most: quality, outcomes and patient experience,” explained Connell. “All three rank in the top nationwide.”

He attributed the high scores (quality 91, outcomes 92, patient perception 95) to the “amazing, hard-working, service-oriented people” who work for the hospital, noting that many approach their work as more of a “calling” than “just a job.”

“The truth is that the individual and collective excellence that lives here in our people has very little to do with my management activities,” Connell said. “These people teach me such important lessons through the power of example.”

Herman added that the hospital had some of the highest scores in the categories of quality, outcomes and patient perspective of any of the hospitals considered in the rankings.

“You can tell everyone (staff) here is excited,” she said. “It gave everyone a little boost and shows them what they do matters.”

The hospital held a celebratory luncheon for its employees on Thursday, Feb. 27.

“The things that matter for the public, where the rubber meets the road, have to do with quality, outcomes and patient experience, so we’re very pleased with that,” Connell said. “Getting something like this is a great chance for us to recognize people who work here. It’s very exciting for us and definitely something to celebrate.”