Cox Barton County Hospital earns top quality award for third consecutive year

Cox Barton County Hospital has once again solidified its position as one of the 2024 Top 20 Critical Access Hospitals (CAHs) for quality in the country.

For three consecutive years, Cox Barton has outperformed other CAHs, securing a top 20 ranking recognized by the Chartis Center for Rural Health and announced by the National Rural Health Association (NRHA). The hospitals were rigorously evaluated based on various performance indicators and Cox Barton, the only hospital in Missouri named as a best practice quality recipient, has consistently proven its excellence.

"I am immensely proud of the unwavering dedication and exceptional contributions made by our team of skilled physicians and staff, which have played a pivotal role in our hospital's achievement of this highly esteemed designation," said Andrea McKay, president of Cox Barton County Hospital. "The consistent acknowledgment of our hospital as a top 20 quality facility underscores our commitment to providing the highest standard of care to our rural community, assuring them of access to services for years to come.”

The top 20 CAH best practice recipients have achieved success in one of two key areas of performance:

• Quality index: A rating of hospital performance based on the percentile rank across rural-relevant process of care measures.
• Patient perspective index: A rating of hospital performance based on the percentile rank across all 10 HCAHPS domains.

The best practice recipients were chosen from the Chartis Center for Rural Health’s 2024 Top 100 CAH list released earlier this year, an honor Cox Barton received.

This year's awards ceremony will be held during NRHA’s Critical Access Hospital Conference in September in Kansas City, Mo.