Sidney Health Center was recently awarded the Montana Rural Healthcare Performance Improvement Network’s Quality Program of the Year Award for its efforts in quality patient care.

The Montana Rural Healthcare Performance Improvement Network (PIN) is a voluntary membership of 49 critical access hospitals throughout the state.  Through this Network, member hospitals are able to benchmark their performance with their peers on a variety of financial, utilization and direct patient care measures that encourage safe, effective, patient-centered care delivery in even the most remote communities of the state.  PIN quality of care measures are based on national benchmarks, but are tailored to reflect the realities of the state’s rural population.
 
The Quality Program of the Year Award celebrates Montana’s top-performing critical access hospital Quality Program.  Sidney Health Center quality program is inclusive of all staff, but is led by the Director of Service Excellence, Nursing Leadership, Patient Experience Specialist, as well as several other influential staff members. Through facility-wide teamwork and collaboration, Sidney Health Center, QI program submits ongoing data to the MT Flex Program, CMS, HQIC, and several others to promote collaboration and sharing with other critical access hospitals in the state and nation. 

The mission of the MT Rural Healthcare PIN is to develop and provide a collaborative support system which will enable small rural hospitals to have the ability to deliver quality care and achieve customer satisfaction.  PIN activities are supported by the Medicare Rural Hospital Flexibility (Flex) Program, which provides funding to spur quality and performance improvement activities, stabilize rural hospital finance and integrate emergency medical services (EMS) into existing health care systems. The program encourages the development of cooperative systems of care in rural areas to increase efficiencies.