According to Butler County Health Director of Nurses Kristin Hartman, having close ties to the community is crucial for providing quality patient care. She attributes Butler County Health’s placement in the top 100 critical access hospitals nationwide for 2024 to this community connection. Hartman emphasized that being able to care for friends, family, and neighbors in the community allows for a more personalized and specialized approach to healthcare.
The recognition for Butler County Health came from the Chartis Center for Rural Health, a health care advisory firm specializing in various areas such as strategic planning, performance excellence, health analytics, informatics, clinical quality, and operations. The firm uses a rural hospital performance index to evaluate hospitals across different metrics, with Butler County Health ranking among the top 100 out of 1,400 critical access hospitals nationally.
Don Naiberk, the CEO of Butler County Health, expressed pride in the hospital’s achievement, highlighting the exceptional staff and providers who deliver outstanding care. The index compiled by Chartis Center for Rural Health considers eight core metrics, including inpatient and outpatient market share, quality, outcomes, patient perspective, cost, charge, and financial stability.
This is not the first time Butler County Health has received recognition, as they were also among the top 20 critical access hospitals in 2018. Hartman mentioned that the national recognition benefits both the hospital as an organization and the individual staff members. She emphasized the hard work put in to ensure that patients receive comprehensive care throughout their treatment, from admission to discharge. Hartman expressed gratitude for the acknowledgment of the hospital’s dedication to patient care.