Higgins General Hospital in Bremen has been named one of the HealthStrong Top 100 Critical Access Hospitals in the nation—and was the only hospital in Georgia to make the list.
“We are proud of the efforts our physicians and staff have made to help our hospital achieve this designation,” said Mike Alexander, administrator of Higgins General Hospital. “This is the product of the hard work of a great many, and our organization’s constant focus on providing exceptional care to our patients and their loved ones.”
The HealthStrong Top 100 Critical Access Hospitals—including Higgins General Hospital, a part of Tanner Health System—scored best among critical access hospitals on the iVantage Health Analytics’ Hospital Strength Index. The 2013 Top 100 CAH announcement is the second release of this designation, the first ever comprehensive rating of the nation’s critical access hospitals. The results recognize the Top 100 Critical Access Hospitals that provide a safety net to communities across rural America.
The index measures hospitals across 56 performance metrics, including quality, outcomes, patient perspective, affordability and efficiency.
According to the Hospital Strength Index, Higgins General Hospital earned top marks for quality, value-based strength and patient perspectives, as well as financial stability—a feat for any rural hospital.
“Rural hospitals across the nation have struggled in recent years, and hospitals in Georgia are no exception,” said Loy Howard, president and CEO of Tanner Health System. “One way Higgins General Hospital, as well as our other hospitals at Tanner, continues to succeed and grow is through the diligence we show in advancing patient care. Quality is a driving factor in all of our decisions as an organization, and that helps to keep us growing to add new facilities and services.”
This is the second time in as many years that iVantage has produced an index of the nation’s top critical access hospitals, and Higgins General Hospital has been included in the list of top 100 hospitals both times. The hospital also was recently named the No. 1 critical access hospital in Georgia by Georgia Trend.
John Morrow, executive vice president of iVantage Health Analytics that produces the Hospital Strength Index, credited rural hospitals like Higgins General Hospital for expanding access to care to communities throughout the nation.
“Rural hospitals play a critical role in providing needed care to communities across America, yet the challenges are completely different while being as complex as urban hospitals,” said Morrow. “The need for enhanced performance and a framework for success are equally important as hospitals prepare for the impact of health reform.”
iVantage Health Analytics is a privately held healthcare business intelligence and technology company serving more than 500 hospitals across the United States. The company provides comparative analytics by integrated market, clinical, operational and financial data into a single, enterprise-wide platform for executive-level business intelligence. More information is available at www.iVantageHealth.com.
Higgins General Hospital, a part of Tanner Health System, is a 25-bed critical access hospital offering 24-hour emergency care, advanced diagnostic imaging services, minimally invasive surgical services, inpatient care, intensive care, an innovative swing bed program and more. More information on Higgins General Hospital and Tanner’s other facilities is available in Locations.