Banner Churchill Hospital receives numerous awards

Because of its recent awards, Banner Churchill Community Hospital is becoming one of the top small medical facilities in the West.

First, the Fallon hospital received Banner’s Best of the Best award that recognizes the health care organization’s top hospitals, health centers and clinics.

Banner Churchill won in the small hospital category.

Additionally, Banner also recognized the hospital for providing exceptional patient experience, high performance in clinical quality and high performance in system efficiency and learning among small hospitals.

Hoyt Skabelund, chief executive officer for Banner Churchill, said 28 facilities in two divisions — large and small hospitals — were eligible for five separate awards.

Skabelund said the Clinical Performance award, for example, recognizes hospitals for how they set priorities in clinical outcomes.

“I couldn’t be more proud of the team of physicians, providers, staff and volunteers as well as our community board members who contribute to the success of Banner Churchill,” Skabelund said.

Also, the Center for Medical Services awarded Banner Churchill a 4-star rating (out of five) for its hospital services.

“Only two in Northern Nevada received a 4-star rating, Banner and Sierra Surgical Center,” Skabelund said. “This is a big honor for us and shows a big improvement and effort over the years.”

Out of 4,500 hospitals that CMS evaluated, only 250 were selected as 5-star hospitals including Tahoe Forest in Truckee, Calif.

Skabelund, who became Banner Churchill’s CEO in 2014, said the hospital’s success not only lies with its current staff but also with former CEO John d’Angelo, who took a similar position last summer at Banner’s new medical facility in Fort Collins, Colo.

“This is a tribute to John and the staff,” Skabelund said. “They laid the foundation long before I came. My job is to build on that. We have had a cultural shift here for our people to be friendly. As a result our patient satisfaction records are higher.”

Finally, The Leapfrog Group, a nonprofit watchdog organization, assigns A, B, C, D and F grades to more than 2,500 U.S. hospitals based on their ability to prevent errors, accidents, injuries and infections. Leapfrog announced its awards this spring and gave Banner Churchill an A.

In receiving recognition for clinical performance, Skabelund said Banner Churchill’s goal is using the best and safest procedures to treat a patient’s condition.

And gradual improvement reaped Leapfrog’s highest grade. Skabelund said three years, Banner Churchill received a C, and 18 months ago the grade was a B.

Now, the Fallon hospital is at the top of the class.

“Very few receive an A rating,“ Skabelund said. “This is evidence that we are getting better and better. We are always trying to learn to get better. We’re proud to have a highest-ranking hospital and to be among the very best.”

Skabelund said patients care about their community hospital.

“Reaching this level of performance is the result of concentrated years of hard work,”he added.