Southwest Memorial Hospital has been awarded the 2023 Performing Leadership Award by the Colorado Rural Health Network.
According to Chief Nursing Officer Lisa Gates, the award was determined based on information provided by the Chartis Hospital Performance Index, which is used by Colorado Rural Health as a “standard for assessing and bench-marking rural and critical access hospital performance.”
The various indicators used in the performance index highlighted the hospital as the performance leader for this award.
“What this means is metrics that we’re reporting for quality, including mortality rate, safety of care, hospital readmission rate and timelines of care shows how we are basically 52% higher than other Colorado critical access care hospitals in quality performance,” Gates said.
“This is a great indicator for us,” she said. “This award really shows what we’re doing in an up-to-date time pattern for quality.”
Gates pointed out that it takes everyone in the hospital working together to produce such high results.
“It takes all members of the organization for quality metrics to show up as such a positive indicator,” Gates said. “It’s not just inpatient, it includes bringing patients from the ambulance to the ER to inpatient to home, and then every aspect of their care from providers to lab and radiology, so you have to be able to put those pieces together to really show that you’re providing high-quality care to your patients.”
Gates also noted the changes made in leadership in 2023, as the former CEO stepped down during the summer to make way for new CEO Joe Theine, saying that despite the changes experienced in the hospital during 2023, those who work there are always committed to quality care.
“This shows how much hard work continues despite turnover,” she said. “At the core of our care, we’re continuing to deliver high-quality care, and with structured, permanent leadership going forward, it shows just how much more we can achieve.”
“Over the last year with the ups and downs and the turmoil, this is such a highlight for the end of the year,” she said.
Gates finished by saying she hoped people in the community know that the staff at the hospital are dedicated to their jobs within the community and that they care for each person’s needs on an individual level.
“It just really shows how much we meet our patient’s needs in the community for the wide variety of reasons that they come to us for. Despite the negative things you hear going on at a higher level, this really shows how we are at the core of the facility and how dedicated our staff and providers are,” she said.
