Memorial Health Care Systems (MHCS) was recently named one of the Top 20 Critical Access Hospitals (CAHs) for overall performance in the country.

The Top 20 CAHs, including MHCS, scored best among CAHs as determined by the Chartis Center for Rural Health. The rankings were recently announced by the National Rural Health Association (NRHA). An awards ceremony will be held during NRHA’s Critical Access Hospital Conference in September in Kansas City, Mo.

The Top 20 CAHs have achieved success in overall performance based on a composite rating from eight indices of strength: inpatient market share, outpatient market share, quality, outcomes, patient perspective, cost, charge and finance. This group was selected from the Chartis Center for Rural Health’s 2026 Top 100 CAH list, which was released earlier this year.

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.

“This recognition is a testament to all the dedication and commitment by the staff and physicians at Memorial Health Care Systems. MHCS is proud of the efforts of many who have contributed to our hospital achieving this designation,” says Roger Reamer, CEO. “Our results as a Top 20 overall Critical Access Hospital means our communities we serve can count on us to deliver the services they need now and in the future.” 

There are currently 1,383 Critical Access Hospitals across the United States.