For the second consecutive year, Higgins General Hospital has placed among the nation’s top critical access hospitals for financial stability, according to the National Rural Health Association (NRHA).
“Financial stability is a rare trait among rural hospitals, especially in Georgia,” said Michael Alexander, administrator of Higgins General Hospital. “But having a reliable financial situation is how we can ensure that high-quality care remains available, right here in Bremen, to the residents of Haralson County.”
According to the Georgia Hospital Association, at least four Georgia hospitals have closed since the beginning of 2013. Forty-two percent of all hospitals in Georgia have negative operating margins. The hardship is especially felt by Georgia’s rural hospitals, 60 percent of which lost money in 2012, the last year for which data is available.
The financial rankings, based on data compiled by iVantage Health Analytics, took into account the hospital’s performance based on its percentile rank on a set of balance sheet and income statement financial ratios, according to the NRHA. Percentile rankings are based on four financial indicators: leverage, liquidity, capital efficiency and resource availability.
Higgins General Hospital was the only critical access hospital in Georgia to make the Top 20 ranking in either year.
The hospital has also placed as the No. 1 critical access hospital in Georgia in quality and patient satisfaction for the past three years in Georgia Trend magazine, and is recognized as a Top Performer on Key Quality Measures by The Joint Commission. Higgins General Hospital is part of Tanner Health System, one of the year’s 15 Top Health Systems in the nation, as ranked by Truven Health Analytics.
NRHA is a nonprofit organization that works to improve the health and wellbeing of rural Americans and provides leadership on rural health issues through advocacy, communications, education and research. NRHA’s membership includes 21,000 diverse individuals and organizations. More information on NRHA is available online at www.ruralhealthweb.org.
Higgins General Hospital is a 25-bed critical access hospital serving Bremen and Haralson County. It offers 24-hour emergency care, inpatient care, minimally invasive surgical services, state-of-the-art diagnostic imaging services, critical care services, an innovative swing bed program for patients who need more time to recover from a surgery or trauma, a wide range of specialist services and more.