Wisconsin ranked third best state for quality, performance

The federal Health Resources & Services Administration (HRSA) has ranked Wisconsin the third best state in the nation for the quality and performance efforts of its Critical Access Hospitals (CAHs). HRSA annually recognizes top performing states that achieve the highest quality-related reporting rates and levels of quality improvement over the previous 12-month period. Wisconsin’s CAHs, including Aspirus Medford and Aspirus Langlade, came in third for 2020, behind just Virginia and South Carolina.

“Aspirus is proud to have two critical access hospitals in Wisconsin that so diligently care for their communities,” said Matthew Heywood, President and Chief Executive Officer for Aspirus. “Critical access hospitals play such an important role in rural communities, where access to quality health care could otherwise be hours away.”

HRSA’s measures are from its Medicare Beneficiary Quality Improvement Project (MBQIP), which includes more than 1,350 hospitals across 45 states. The project encourages voluntary reporting and the use of data to address specific quality improvement initiatives for rural hospitals. In Wisconsin, all 58 rural CAHs voluntarily provide MBQIP data.

CAHs are certified to receive cost-based reimbursement from Medicare. This program is intended to reduce hospital closures in rural areas, promote a process for improving rural health care and focus on community needs. CAHs have a maximum of 25 acute-care inpatient beds and provides 24-hour emergency services.