On June 28, the Washington State Hospital Association (WSHA) recognized 13 hospitals from across the state for participating in its Critical Access Hospital Achievement of Quality Excellence Program and delivering outstanding care to their communities. The association recognized the hospitals at its Rural Hospital Leadership Conference at Campbell’s Resort in Chelan.
The participating hospitals worked on quality improvement projects and submitted data on up to 14 quality improvement measures. These measures included antibiotic stewardship, reducing diagnostic errors, preventing patient falls and working to address social determinants of health.
The hospitals recognized in 2023 were:
- Arbor Health (Morton)
- Astria Sunnyside Hospital (Sunnyside)
- Columbia Basin Hospital (Ephrata)
- East Adams Rural Healthcare (Ritzville)
- Lincoln Hospital (Davenport)
- Lourdes Medical Center (Pasco)
- North Valley Hospital (Tonasket)
- Ocean Beach Hospital & Medical Clinics (Ilwaco)
- Providence Mount Carmel Hospital (Colville)
- Providence St. Joseph’s Hospital (Chewelah)
- St. Elizabeth Hospital (Enumclaw)
- Summit Pacific Medical Center (Elma)
- Willapa Harbor Hospital (South Bend)
While hospitals regularly submit data and participate in quality improvement initiatives, this is the association’s first year offering a special recognition program to critical access hospitals to honor their work and participation in tracking their performance. Critical access hospitals are those that have 25 or fewer beds, are located more than 35 miles from another hospital, maintain an average length of stay of 96 hours or less for acute care patients and provide 24/7 emergency care services.
“WSHA’s Critical Access Hospital Achievement of Quality Excellence Program offers a new way to recognize our smallest and most rural hospitals for their work ensuring outstanding care to their communities,” said Darcy Jaffe, WSHA senior vice president of safety and quality. “There are so many elements that constitute quality care, requiring lots of meaningful collaboration and communication at the bedside as well as larger review of trends to identify areas for improvement. These hospitals have shown that they are up for the task.”
