Spencer Hospital Named One of the Nation's Top Community Hospitals for Fourth Consecutive Year

posted on Monday, February 11, 2019 in General

Spencer Hospital has again been named one of the Top 100 Rural & Community Hospitals in the United States, earning the designation for the fourth consecutive year.  The nation’s top rural hospitals are recognized annually by the Chartis Center for Rural Health.

Regarded as one of the industry’s most significant designations of performance excellence, the annual Top 100 Rural & Community Hospitals award is based upon the results of the Hospital Strength INDEX® developed by iVantage Health Analytics.

“Our medical staff and healthcare team have demonstrated yet again the quality and consistency of their performance year over year” said Bill Bumgarner, Spencer Hospital president. “I’m pleased that their exceptional work and commitment is being recognized among the top 100 community hospitals in the nation for the fourth straight year.”

Spencer Hospital and the community hospital in Fort Dodge are the only hospitals in Iowa to be recognized in all four years that the Chartis Center has recognized mid-sized rural community hospitals for excellence. 

“This recognition represents a clear dedication to advance Spencer Hospital’s clinical and business practices over many years,” said Bumgarner. “It also reflects how our talented physicians and skilled employees adapt as the healthcare industry changes.  Our team performs at a high level.  Yet it also realizes we must continually embrace change to enhance the care and services offered to patients throughout northwest Iowa.” 

iVantage identifies top performing hospitals by aggregating hospital-specific data for over 50 service and outcome variables across eight pillars of performance, resulting in an overall hospital strength index. The majority of data used in the study is derived from public sources.  Areas in which top hospitals particularly distinguish themselves include quality and outcomes; patient safety; patient satisfaction; and costs and charges.

“In an era of increased complexity and uncertainty, Top 100 hospitals have established themselves as a bellwether for rural provider performance,” said Michael Topchik, National Leader of The Chartis Center for Rural Health. “Top 100 status is a real indicator of how proactive these hospitals are when it comes to pushing for performance improvement in areas such as quality, outcomes, patient safety, market share and finance.”