Brookings Health Named Top 20 Rural Community Hospital for Eighth Time
- March 03, 2025
Health System Ranks 99.9 Percent Nationwide
Brookings Health System was again named a Top 20 Rural Community Hospital in the United States by the National Rural Health Association (NRHA). The health system ranked 99.9 percent on the winter 2025 Chartis Rural Hospital Performance INDEX, the tool used to recognize the Top 20. Brookings Health was the highest scoring rural prospective payment system (PPS) hospital among peer rural and community hospitals across the nation.
“Our team is the key driver to our continued success year-after-year,” said President and CEO Jason Merkley. “Their focus to provide world-class care with the best possible outcomes to every patient, every time drives the high-quality, compassionate, personalized health care our community has come to know and trust.”
This is the eighth time since the award was established in 2016 that the NRHA has named Brookings Health to the elite Top 20 list. The health system will be recognized at an awards ceremony during NRHA’s Rural Hospital Innovation Summit on May 22 in Atlanta, GA.
The NRHA honors the 20 highest-ranked PPS hospitals in the country based on an evaluation by the Chartis Rural Hospital Performance INDEX®. The INDEX is based entirely on publicly available data sets and is the industry’s most comprehensive and objective assessment of rural provider performance. It benchmarks rural and community hospitals on eight pillars of performance: inpatient market share, outpatient market share, quality, outcomes, patient perspective, cost, charge, and financial efficiency. More information about the Top 20 list can be found on ruralhealth.us.
Brookings Health was also recently named to Newsweek’s World’s Best Hospitals as well as a Top 100 Rural and Community Hospital. To learn more about Brookings Health System’s high-quality care, please visit brookingshealth.org/Quality.
About Brookings Health System
Brookings Health System, located in Brookings, South Dakota, includes a 49-bed hospital, the 79-bed The Neighborhoods at Brookview nursing home, Brookhaven Estates senior living apartments, Yorkshire Eye Clinic, and medical clinics in Arlington, White and Volga, South Dakota. It is a non-profit, city-owned facility that offers the community a full range of inpatient, outpatient, emergency and extended care services. Brookings Hospital provides local access to doctors in Brookings and offers robotic da Vinci surgery and Mako robotic-arm assisted procedures, making it one of the premier rural community hospitals in South Dakota. For more information about the services offered at Brookings Health System, please call (605) 696-9000 or visit us on the Web at brookingshealth.org.
About NRHA
NRHA is a nonprofit organization working to improve the health and well-being of rural Americans and provide leadership on rural health issues through advocacy, communications, education, and research. NRHA’s membership consists of diverse individuals and organizations, all of whom share the common bond of an interest in rural health.
About Chartis
Chartis is a comprehensive health care advisory firm dedicated to helping clients build a healthier world. We work across the health care continuum with more than 900 clients annually, including providers, payers, health services organizations, technology and retail companies, and investors. Through times of change, challenge, and opportunity, we advise the industry on how to navigate disruption, pursue growth, achieve financial sustainability, unleash technology, improve care models and operations, enhance clinical quality and safety, and advance health equity. The teams we convene bring deep industry expertise and industry leading innovation, enabling clients to achieve transformational results and create positive societal impact. For more information, visit www.chartis.com.