Brookings Health Named Top 20 Rural Community Hospital for Seventh Time

  • March 13, 2024

Health System Scores in Top 1% Nationwide

Hospitalist Dr. Jill Kruse, D.O., visits with a patient inside Brookings Health System’s inpatient care unit. The health system was named a Top 20 Rural Community Hospital by the National Rural Health Association for the seventh time. Brookings Health scored in the top one percent among peer rural and community hospitals in the Chartis Rural Hospital Performance INDEX®, the tool used to recognize the Top 20.
Hospitalist Dr. Jill Kruse, D.O., visits with a patient inside Brookings Health System’s inpatient care unit. The health system was named a Top 20 Rural Community Hospital by the National Rural Health Association for the seventh time. Brookings Health scored in the top one percent among peer rural and community hospitals in the Chartis Rural Hospital Performance INDEX®, the tool used to recognize the Top 20.

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 scored in the top one percent among peer rural and community hospitals across the nation on the winter 2024 Chartis Rural Hospital Performance INDEX, the tool used to recognize the Top 20. 

“Our team’s hard work and dedication to positive patient outcomes and excellent service continues to prove year-after-year that we have what it takes to be among the best rural and community hospitals in the nation,” said President and CEO Jason Merkley. “Our focus is to continue to deliver the high-quality, compassionate, personalized health care our community has come to know and trust.”

This is the seventh 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 9 in New Orleans, La. 

The NRHA honors the 20 highest-ranked prospective payment system 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 Neweek’s World’s Best Hospitals as well as a Top 100 Rural and Community Hospital. In addition, the Brookings Hospital currently holds an overall five-star rating from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. 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. Work is facilitated across the health care continuum with more than 600 clients annually, including providers, payers, health services organizations, technology and retail companies, and investors. Through times of change, challenge, and opportunity, Chartis advises 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. Teams convened 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.