Penn Highlands Elk Named a Top U.S. Critical Access Hospital

Penn Highlands Elk, in St. Marys, Pennsylvania, was recently named one of the top 20 critical access hospitals (CAHs) in the country.

Critical access hospitals provide essential access to high-quality healthcare in rural communities. With more than 1,350 CAHs located throughout the United States, this designation places Penn Highlands Elk in the Top 2% of all CAHs. Penn Highlands Elk has a long history of providing quality care to the region. With campuses in St. Marys and Ridgway, physician offices in several locations throughout the region, it proudly serves the residents of Elk, Cameron and neighboring counties.

The top 20 CAHs, including Penn Highlands Elk, scored best among CAHs as determined by the Chartis Center for Rural Health. 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 CAHs have achieved success in overall performance based on a composite rating from eight indices of strength: inpatient market share, outpatient market share, quality, outcomes, patient perspective, cost, charge and finance. This group was selected from the Chartis Center for Rural Health’s 2022 top 100 CAH list, which was released earlier this year.

“Penn Highlands Elk is proud of the efforts of the physicians and staff who contributed to our hospital achieving this designation,” said Bradley J. Chapman, President of Penn Highlands Elk. “Ranking among the top 20 critical access hospitals in the U.S. means our community can count on us to deliver the services they need now and in the future.”

Penn Highlands Healthcare was officially formed in 2011, and is comprised of eight hospitals – Penn Highlands Brookville, Penn Highlands Clearfield, Penn Highlands Connellsville, Penn Highlands DuBois, Penn Highlands Elk, Penn Highlands Huntingdon, Penn Highlands Mon Valley and Penn Highlands Tyrone -- that have served area communities for the past 100+ years. Its business continuum also includes home care agencies, long-term care facilities and residential senior living communities, as well as durable medical equipment companies and retail pharmacies.

Penn Highlands Healthcare has evolved into an organization with approximately 6,651 workers in 150+ locations throughout 39 counties in Northwestern/Central and Southwestern Pennsylvania that include community medical buildings, outpatient facilities, surgery centers and physician practices. The facilities have a total of 1,498 inpatient, skilled nursing and personal care beds. The system, which has 827 physicians and 405 advanced practice providers on staff, offers a wide range of care and treatments with specialty units for cancer, cardiovascular/thoracic, neurosurgery, pulmonology, neonatal and high-risk pregnancy patients. Being focused on what is important – patients and families – makes Penn Highlands Healthcare the best choice in the region.

NRHA is a nonprofit organization working to improve the health and well-being of rural Americans and provide leadership on rural health issues through advocacy, communications, education, and research.

The Chartis Group provides comprehensive advisory services and analytics to the health care industry. Chartis helps leading academic medical centers, integrated delivery networks, children's hospitals, and health care service organizations achieve transformative results and build a healthier world.