A critical access hospital is defined as a rural acute care facility providing 24-hour emergency services, acute inpatient and swing-bed care and offers inpatient stay up to 96 hours on average.
A recent report sites the state's critical access hospitals as the best in the nation. The federal Health Resources and Services Administration reported Wisconsin's rural hospitals achieved the highest reporting rates and levels of improvement in the country over the past year.
Wisconsin Hospital Association spokesperson Kelly Court says the report shows Wisconsin's rural hospitals are very good at collecting quality data but, she says most importantly, they're interested in using the data to improve the quality of their care..
. "....this program is for small, rural hospitals in the state. More than 60 our our hospitals are rural. It shows the commitment of those smaller hospitals to provide high quality care. Same high-quality care we see in larger urban hospitals...."
Court says smaller hospitals don't always provide the same number of services provided in larger cities but the report shows people should have confidence in their local hospitals....
"...for the services they do provide you can be confident that you're going to get the same high quality of care available in larger hospitals. It reassures our patients and residents of Wisconsin that it is ok to get that level of care in your local community...."
Court says Wisconsin Hospital Association is proud of the level of commitment rural hospitals in Wisconsin are doing. She says that level of commitment is not there in many other states.
