CEO: Top Critcial Access Hospital Honor for 4 Consecutive Years
March 04, 2026
(Published as a Letter to the Editor in The Carrollton Democrat)
By Scott Thoreson, Carroll County Memorial Hospital Chief Executive Officer
I am happy to announce that Carroll County Memorial Hospital (CCMH) has for the fourth consecutive year been named a Top 100 Critical Access Hospital in the United States! To remind everyone, a Critical Access Hospital has 25 or less inpatient beds and provides services in a rural area. There are approximately 1,300 Critical Access Hospitals in the country and by virtue of simple math, that places CCMH in the top 8% of all these similar hospitals. Chartis Center for Rural Health is the consulting group that analyzes the data that goes into defining the metrics that distinguishes high performing hospitals from their peers. The National Rural Health Association partners with Chartis to promote this high standard of care.
The Chartis Rural Hospital Performance INDEX® utilizes eight categories of metrics to compare hospitals. Inpatient Market Share; Outpatient Market Share; Quality; Outcomes; Patient Perspective; Cost; Charge and Finance are all pillars of performance that result from 36 individual indicators of a hospital’s operation.
There are 35 Critical Access Hospitals in Missouri, and CCMH is the only organization to have made the Top 100 for the last four consecutive years. To add to this designation, Chartis also goes further and in a few months will publicize the Top 20 Critical Access Hospital list for 2026, to which CCMH has been named in two of the last three years. No other Missouri Critical Access Hospital has made the Top 20 in recent memory of the 16 years that Chartis has been sharing this information. The simple math for the Top 20 equates to being in the top 1.5% or so in the country.
I hope this article has provided a bit more of an insight about the high caliber of healthcare that is provided at CCMH to the point of being consistently a Top 100 and Top 20 hospital in the nation. Our patients and community members help drive us to higher levels of quality and service, which in turn allows us to be nationally recognized. Of course, our staff are the ones who deserve all the accolades as they are the people that meet and routinely exceed our patients’ expectations. We will continue to work hard to address needs and provide the services that make sense for our service area. I wish you good health!
More in this Series:
CEO: Outpatient Specialists - Cardiology (Published November 26, 2025)
https://www.carrollcountyhospital.org/news/ceo-outpatient-specialists-cardiology
CEO: One Big Beautiful Bill Act (Published October 29, 2025)
https://www.carrollcountyhospital.org/news/ceo-one-big-beautiful-bill-act
CEO: Growing the Next Generation (Published July 16, 2025)
https://www.carrollcountyhospital.org/news/ceo-growing-the-next-generation
CEO: National Hospital Week 2025 (Published May 14, 2025)
https://www.carrollcountyhospital.org/news/ceo-national-hospital-week-2025
CEO: Advance Directives (Published April 14, 2025)
https://www.carrollcountyhospital.org/news/ceo-advance-directives
CEO: Health Insurance Decision Time (Published September 25, 2024)
https://www.carrollcountyhospital.org/news/ceo-health-insurance-decision-time
CEO: Hospital Week 2024 (Published May 13, 2024)
https://www.carrollcountyhospital.org/news/ceo-hospital-week-2024
CEO: Community Health Needs Initial Assessment (Published April 24, 2024)
https://www.carrollcountyhospital.org/news/ceo-community-health-needs-initial-assessment
CEO: Cybersecurity (Published February 14, 2024)
https://www.carrollcountyhospital.org/news/ceo-cybersecurity
CEO: End of Year Reflections (Published December 29, 2023)
https://www.carrollcountyhospital.org/news/ceo-end-of-the-year-reflections
CEO: Coding Matters (Published November 22, 2023)
https://www.carrollcountyhospital.org/news/ceo-coding-matters
CEO: Maternity Care Desert (Published October 25, 2023)
https://www.carrollcountyhospital.org/news/ceo-maternity-care-desert
CEO: Rural Emergency Hospitals (Published September 20, 2023)
https://www.carrollcountyhospital.org/news/ceo-rural-emergency-hospitals
CEO: Primary Care Provider (Published August 23, 2023)
https://www.carrollcountyhospital.org/news/ceo-primary-care-provider
CEO: Supply Shortages (Published June 28, 2023)
https://www.carrollcountyhospital.org/news/ceo-supply-shortages
CEO: CCMH Named Top 20 Critical Access Hospital (Published June 14, 2023)
https://www.carrollcountyhospital.org/news/ceo-ccmh-named-top-20-critical-access-hospital
CEO: Hospital Week 2023 (Published May 3, 2023)
https://www.carrollcountyhospital.org/news/ceo-hospital-week-2023
CEO: Prior Authorizations (Published April 5, 2023)
https://www.carrollcountyhospital.org/news/ceo-prior-authorizations
CEO: Staff Shortage and Open Positions (Published February 8, 2023)
https://www.carrollcountyhospital.org/news/ceo-staff-shortage-and-open-positions
CEO: End of Year 2022 (Published December 14, 2022)
https://www.carrollcountyhospital.org/news/ceo-end-of-2022
CEO: Purpose of the Foundation (Published November 10, 2022)
https://www.carrollcountyhospital.org/news/purpose-of-the-foundation
CEO: Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (Published September 28, 2022)
https://www.carrollcountyhospital.org/news/ceo-health-insurance-portability-and-accountability-act
CEO: CCMH Providers (Published August 24, 2022)
https://www.carrollcountyhospital.org/news/ceo-ccmh-providers
CEO: Financial Assistance (Published July 20, 2022)
https://www.carrollcountyhospital.org/news/ceo-financial-assistance
CEO: Social Determinants of Health (Published June 29, 2022)
https://www.carrollcountyhospital.org/news/ceo-social-determinants-of-health
CEO: National Hospital Week (Published May 11, 2022)
https://www.carrollcountyhospital.org/news/ceo-national-hospital-week
CEO: Why Healthcare is Expensive (Published May 4, 2022)
https://www.carrollcountyhospital.org/news/ceo-why-healthcare-is-expensive
CEO: A Hospital is Still a Business (Published March 16, 2022)
https://www.carrollcountyhospital.org/news/ceo-a-hospital-is-still-a-business
CEO: Different Types of Hospital Ownership (Published February 1, 2022)
https://www.carrollcountyhospital.org/news/ceo-different-types-of-hospital-ownership
CEO: Holiday Message (Published December 20, 2021)
https://www.carrollcountyhospital.org/news/ceo-holiday-message