The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) recently recognized Illinois as a 2019 Medicare Beneficiary Quality Improvement Project (MBQIP) Quality Performance Award. Awards were awarded to the top ten states achieving the highest reporting rates and levels of improvement in Critical Access Hospitals (CAHs) over the past year.

Pinckneyville Community Hospital was recognized as being a contributor to this success.

Through the efforts of the Illinois Critical Access Hospital Network (ICHAN), Illinois built on their previous successes by investing funding from HRSA's Federal Office of Rural Health Policy (FORHP) into quality improvement projects and developing technical assistance resources that improve high-quality care in their communities.

Angie Charlet, Sr. Director of Quality with ICAHN states that Pinckneyville Community Hospital's "data driven quality efforts and the sharing of best practices among your peers - both within the State of Illinois and through the country - have not gone unrecognized."

HRSA created the MBQIP to promote high quality care at rural hospitals with 25 or fewer beds. Hospitals that participate in MBQIP voluntarily report quality measures relevant to the care they provide, share data, and take on quality improvement initiatives. Of those engaging in improvement initiatives, 72% have improved outcomes on the reported measures.

"This recognition truly reflects the efforts that Pinckneyville Community Hospital puts forward in quality improvement each and every day," said Charlet.

"We're happy to work with the states on this effort," said Tom Morris, FORHP Associate Administrator. "They've done a great job showing that CAHs can be national leaders in quality improvement and that results in better care in rural communities."