Awards & Recognition

Henderson Health Care Services Earns Top 20 CAH Recognition for Patient Satisfaction

May 21, 2021

Henderson Health Care Services has once again been named one of the Top 20 Critical Access Hospitals (CAHs) for patient satisfaction in the country. The second time in four years that HHCS has received the designation.

The Top 20 Critical Access Hospitals, as determined by the Chartis Center for Rural Health, were recently announced by the National Rural Health Association (NRHA).

Honorees are hospitals who have achieved success in the overall performance based on a composite rating from eight indices of strength: inpatient market share, outpatient market share, quality, outcomes, patient perspectives, costs, charges and financial efficiency. This group was selected from Chartis Center for Rural Health’s Top 100 CAH list, released earlier this year.

Hospitals that have been recognized as Top 20 Critical Access Hospital “best practice recipients” have achieved success on one of two key areas of performance: Quality index: A rating of hospital performance based on the percentile rank across the five categories of Hospital Compare Process of Care measures. Patient perspective index: A rating of hospital performance based on the percentile rank on two Hospital Compare HCAHPS measures (“Overall Rating” and “Highly Recommend)”.

“Henderson Health Care Services is proud of the efforts of our physicians and staff who have contributed to the hospital achieving this designation,” said Cheryl Brown, CEO. “Our results for patient satisfaction confirm patients count on us to deliver healthcare in a manner that exceeds their expectations. In my opinion, there is no greater compliment for our staff.”

An awards ceremony honoring these hospitals will be held during NRHA’s Critical Access Hospital Conference in September in Kansas City, Missouri.


Henderson Health Care Selected as Pilot for UNMC’s ISTARI System

A flexible, easily assembled, negative pressure, transparent plastic envelope that can potentially revolutionize the way health care systems care for infectious diseases will be piloted by Henderson Health Care.

The Isolation System for Treatment and Agile Response for high-risk Infections (ISTARI) is set to arrive at Henderson Community Hospital in October. The modular, disposable, negative pressure, isolation patient care system dives into the idea of eliminating the need for healthcare provider PPE and wraps the PPE around the patient instead. An idea that represents a radical change from conventional strategies that have been in place for more than 40 years.

“This is a rare and unique opportunity to align our facility with some of the lead experts in the fight against COVID-19,” said Henderson Community Hospital Director of Nursing, Carrie Peterson.

Director of International Programs and Innovation at UNMC, Dr. James Lawler, said, “Personal Protective Equipment; gloves, gowns, masks, and goggles can sometimes impair optimal patient care in a variety of ways and we want to make sure that what we are putting out there will actually facilitate better patient care. That’s the number one reason why this testing and evaluation process is so important.”

As a pilot program, Henderson Health Care will assist in evaluating the utility and usability of a prototype model of the system, which will likely be regulated as an FDA medical device. During this phase, actual patients will not participate in the ISTARI evaluation. This half-day evaluation bares no cost to the facility.

There are only three healthcare organizations in Nebraska that were chosen to pilot this new innovative device.


Henderson Health Care’s Legacy Square Captures AHCA/NCAL Bronze Award

In its first full year of operation, Henderson Health Care’s Long Term Care facility, Legacy Square, has already proven to be “Committed to Quality”. In early August, the American Health Care Association/National Center for Assisted Living announced that Legacy Square was chosen as a 2020 Bronze National Quality Award recipient.

As a Bronze—Commitment to Quality Award recipient, Legacy Square adequately described their mission, characteristics, and key challenges, while also recognizing the relationship of these factors to their ability to achieve performance improvement. The Bronze Award recognizes the provider for developing a foundation to begin a journey of continuous quality improvement. Legacy Square will remain committed to learning and developing effective approaches to drive continual improvement of performance and health care outcomes in hopes of becoming a 2021 Silver National Quality Award recipient.

Henderson Health Care CEO, Cheryl Brown said, “It is a great honor to be recognized by the AHCA/NCAL with a National Quality Award. Working together to meet our goals and achieve new milestones is rewarding for everyone involved. Continuous quality improvement is a journey and we are excited to continue on our path of achieving great outcomes.”

The AHCA/NCAL National Quality Award Program is a progressive, three-step process that encourages the continuous learning, development, and execution of integrated quality systems to achieve performance excellence. Each progressive step requires a more detailed and comprehensive demonstration of quality integration and performance. The criteria for each step is based on the Baldrige Performance Excellence Program.

In Nebraska, twenty-eight facilities earned Bronze recognition, seven received Silver, and only one was a Gold Quality Award recipient.


Henderson Health Care Services Honored With “Rural Provider Excellence in Quality Award”

A focus on the improvement of Quality has landed Henderson Health Care Services an award as one of the top Critical Access Hospitals in Nebraska.
As part of the 2019 Nebraska Critical Access Hospitals and Rural Health Clinics Conference on Quality, The Chartis Center for Rural Health joined the Nebraska Office of Rural Health in recognizing outstanding performance in Quality among the state’s Critical Access Hospitals. Now in its second year, the Nebraska Office of Rural Health’s ‘Rural Provider Excellence in Quality Award’ is the nation’s first state-level rural hospital performance recognition program based on iVantage Health Analytics’ Hospital Strength INDEX® framework.

The Rural Provider Excellence in Quality Award utilizes the INDEX framework to analyze Medicare Beneficiary Quality Improvement Project (MBQIP) measures for Nebraska’s 64 Critical Access Hospitals. The analysis percentile-ranks performance for each facility across 25 equally weighted, core MBQIP metrics. Hospitals ranking in the top 10 are recognized with the Provider Excellence in Quality Award.

Celebrating its tenth year in 2020, the INDEX is rural healthcare’s most comprehensive and objective assessment of rural provider performance and is the foundation for several national rural recognition programs, advocacy efforts and legislative initiatives.

“Across the state of Nebraska, our Critical Access Hospitals continue to deliver exceptional levels of quality to their communities. We’re delighted to be able to recognize the efforts of the top 10 hospitals, and shine a spotlight on the experiences and best practices these hospitals utilize to have such a positive impact on the care process,” said Nancy Jo Hansen, Flex and SHIP Program Manager, Nebraska Department of Health.

Henderson Health Care Services Professional Services Officer, Shelly Amack said, “We are excited to be recognized as one of the top 10 Critical Access Hospitals in Nebraska with the Provider Excellence in Quality Award. Henderson Health Care Services strives to reduce health care disparities and improve the health outcomes of our patients by providing high quality, innovative care. Investing in the well-being of our patients will help increase their longevity as well as improve their quality of life.”

Other Critical Access Hospitals who received the award include: Avera Creighton Hospital, Butler County Health Care Center, Callaway District Hospital, Howard County Medical Center, Jefferson Community Health Center, Memorial Hospital (Aurora), Pawnee County Memorial Hospital, Perkins County Health Services and St. Francis Memorial Hospital.


Henderson Health Care selected as TCPI Pinnacle Practice

After four years of transforming their clinical practice, Henderson Health Care has been named a Transforming Clinical Practice Initiative (TCPI) Pinnacle Practice for their dedication to quality clinical work. Monday’s recognition came in the form of a $12,000 grant from Compass PTN to support HHC’s ongoing clinical quality work; and a paid opportunity to attend the Compass PTN Innovation Symposium in Atlanta, Georgia in June.

Being selected as a TCPI Pinnacle Practice means a practice/facility has displayed the highest achievements in improvements on clinical transformation since the beginning of TCPI four years ago.

TCPI’s initiative is part of the driving force that springboarded HHC to look harder at quality standards, preventative health screenings, referral management, and closing the referral loop.

HHC Clinic Operations Officer, Michele George, said, “We have made great strides in the last few years to greatly improve our rates for screenings, such as Osteoporosis, hypertension, colorectal and breast cancer, and neuroimaging overuse. None of this could have been achieved without the hard work of our providers, nurses, and support staff.”

The grant funding will be used to pay for ongoing subscription costs associated with the facility’s KPI Ninja, a software program that generates quality reports and scorecards.

However, the awards didn’t stop there. Additionally, through application of a second grant, HHC will receive another $3,000 from TCPI which will pay for additional barcode scanning equipment in the hospital.

Darcy Ost, Performance Improvement Coordinator, said, “This is a tremendous accomplishment and recognition for Henderson Health Care. It feels good to be rewarded for all of the extra time and effort that we have put into making our patient’s health and wellness come first.”

Though the initiative is now over, HHC vows to continue their improvements with aspirations of being one of the most refined and accurate rural healthcare facilities in the state of Nebraska.


HHC receives Quest for Excellence Award at 2018 NHA Awards banquet; Staff recognized for using data to promote education, increase screening rates


From the Nebraska Hospital Association Awards Banquet program:

Value-based care models such as PQRS, MIPS quality reporting requirement and the formation of ACos prompted our facility to begin looking at how our practice compared to national benchmarks. Historically, data collection and trending was difficult in our clinic, as paper charts were being utilized until the implementation of an EMR in August of 2017. Finding information from paper charts was a manual and tedious process. For ease and consistency, the same EMR platform was selected for the clinic as for the hospital. Having navigated that system for several years already, we were well aware of the challenges of obtaining access to meaningful reports, including large customizing fees and long lag times. Knowing that value-based payment systems were here to stay, having access to quality information became a priority. After much research, a data analytics company was selected to partner with. In doing so, we were able to see how we compared to national benchmarks, which then prompted us to improve our processes of patient care. We discovered that we were consistently screening approximately 30% of our patients for osteoporosis, a mere 20% for colorectal cancer and only 40% of our COPD patients were receiving a spirometry evaluation. Partnering with data analytics company showed the areas we were lacking in and gave us a road map for instigating positive change.

The results were astounding! Osteoporosis screening rates jumped from 30% to over 80% in a matter of months. The radiology department completed 77 DEXA scans in two months, where an average of six per month was the norm. Five of the patients screened required treatment for osteoporosis, with the goal being to prevent fracture in those high risk patients. Osteopenia was recognized in the majority of others, thus guiding providers to recommend calcium and vitamin D intake, weight bearing exercise and continued follow-up. Educating our patients has been key in this measure. Once the patients understood the purpose of the screening, the nature of the test and the provider concern for preventative health, DEXA screenings increased drastically.

Our COPD spirometry baseline rate began near 40% and increased to 76% after the team’s work and evaluation of the data. Patients are now being accurately diagnosed and treated for COPD. The respiratory therapist monitors these patients through Pulmonology Clinic and continuously analyzes the GAP report. She essentially functions as a chronic disease manager, providing overall better care for these patients. Providing education on the importance of spirometry evaluations is necessary. It not only empowers our patients with knowledge, but it also prompts questions about their health and their disease.

Baseline colorectal cancer screening rates of 20% increased to 30% through improved preventative health maintenance screenings at the clinic. This project was not initiated until July and has been more difficult. However, the goal is to improve screening rates and keep our patients healthy by setting a goal of scheduling four patients per week with colorectal cancer screenings for the remainder of 2018.


Care Center Receives Perfect Survey

July 26, 2018

Amazing things are happening at the Henderson Care Center!

The State of Nebraska recently visited Henderson Health Care for one week to look at quality of care, quality of life, infection prevention, documentation, sanitation, nutritional service, cleanliness, activities and resident satisfaction at the Care Center. At the end of the week, the State found zero deficiencies to report! This is the best rating a care center can receive.

Henderson Care Center has received the designation of “deficiency free” 3 of the last 6 years. The surveyors had many positive things to say about the care, staff and facilities at Henderson Health Care.

Congratulations to the staff and residents at Henderson Care Center for their amazing survey results! Thank you also to the citizens of Henderson and the surrounding area for their support of Henderson Health Care. We’re proud to deliver the best care at every age!


Henderson Care Center Receives Award for Quality Improvement

October 2017

Henderson Care Center has received the significant achievement of scoring 6.0 or less on the Nursing Home Quality Composite Score, for the second quarter of 2017. The facility is participating with the Great Plains Quality Care Collaborative on quality improvement areas and has exceeded the standards for every quality measure each month of the second quarter.

The award reads, “Your work has contributed to improving the quality of care and quality of life for residents in your nursing home, and also for nursing home residents across the country.”

Sherri Rediger, Henderson Care Center Director of Nursing said, “This is a great accomplishment for our facility! We focus on improving the quality of care for residents everyday. Our staff deserves congratulations for this well-deserved recognition.”


HHC Hospital Earns U.S. Top Honors

May 2017

Henderson Health Care in Henderson, NE was recently named one of the Top 20 Critical Access Hospitals (CAHs) for patient satisfaction in the country.

The Top 20 Critical Access Hospitals, including Henderson Health Care, scored best among critical access hospitals on iVantage Health Analytics’ Hospital Strength Index™ for patient satisfaction. 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 Critical Access Hospital “winners” are those hospitals who have achieved success in the overall performance based on a composite rating from eight indices of strength: inpatient market share, outpatient market share, quality, outcomes, patient perspectives, costs, charges and financial stability. This group was selected from iVantage’s Top 100 CAH list, released earlier this year.

Those hospitals that have been recognized as Top 20 Critical Access Hospital “best practice recipients” have achieved success on one of two key areas of performance: Quality index: A rating of hospital performance based on the percentile rank across the five categories of Hospital Compare Process of Care measures. Patient perspective index: A rating of hospital performance based on the percentile rank on two Hospital Compare HCAHPS measures (“Overall Rating” and “Highly Recommend)”.

“Henderson Health Care is proud of the efforts of its physicians and staff who have contributed to our hospital achieving this designation,” said Cheryl Brown, CEO. “Our results for patient satisfaction tells us our patients count on us to deliver the health care they need in a manner that exceeds their expectations. In my opinion, there is no greater compliment for our staff.”


Henderson Hospital Ranks Highest Among Area Hospitals

August 2016

HHC scored higher in every category than area hospitals according to Medicare.gov’s 2016 Survey of Patients’ Experiences. HHC also beat the state and national averages.

Topics covered included pain management, facility cleanliness, doctor/nurse communication with patient and recovery.


HHC receives Business Milestone Award

January 2016

Henderson Health Care received a Business Milestone Award in recognition of 65 years in business. This award is given by the Henderson Chamber of Commerce to Henderson businesses who are celebrating significant anniversaries. The awards were distributed at the Celebrate Henderson Banquet on January 25, 2016.