The Chartis Center of Rural Health and the National Organization of State Offices of Rural Health (NOSORH) recognized Gundersen St. Joseph's Hospital and Clinics as a top quartile performer in Quality and Patient Perspective for 2020 as part of the performance leadership award program.
"Our team has worked so hard this year," said Gundersen St. Joseph's Hospital and Clinics Administrator Kristie McCoic. "We have dealt with significant changes including moving to a new building and facing a global pandemic. This amount of change and stress could have caused our team to break down but instead they remained focused on our patients and supporting each other."
The Performance Leadership Award program utilizes the results of the Hospital Strength INDEX® to recognize top quartile performance among Critical Access Hospitals and Rural & Community Hospitals. Based entirely on publicly available data sources, the INDEX methodology is the data foundation for a number of industry-leading rural recognition programs, rural health safety net-related research, and legislative initiatives. Performance Leadership Award recipients are rural hospitals ranking in the 75th percentile or above in the INDEX performance pillars for Quality, Outcomes, or Patient Perspective.
"Despite the fact that COVID-19 has created greater instability across the rural health safety net, we continue to see countless examples of rural hospitals rising to the challenge to serve their communities," said Michael Topchik, National Leader, The Chartis Center for Rural Health. "I believe this dedication to mission and drive to overcome unexpected challenges echoes the long-standing commitment among rural hospitals to deliver high-quality care. We are thrilled to honor this year's top quartile performers."
The Chartis Center of Rural Health and the National Organization of State Offices of Rural Health also honored Gundersen Tri-County Hospital and Clinics, Gundersen Boscobel Area Hospital and Clinics and Gundersen Palmer Lutheran Hospital and Clinics.