Atlantic, IA— For the fifth year in a row, Cass Health has been named one of the Top 20 Critical Access Hospitals in the United States by the National Rural Health Association (NRHA). This prestigious honor places Cass Health in the top 1% of more than 1,300 critical access hospitals across the country.

Cass Health CEO Brett Altman shared his pride in the organization’s continued success: “Earning a spot in the Top 20 is a tremendous honor—but achieving it five years in a row is simply remarkable. Very few hospitals have ever maintained this level of excellence over time. While we know we’re not perfect, we are always committed to improvement and delivering the best possible care, every single day.”

The Top 20 designation is based on the Chartis Rural Hospital Performance INDEX®, which evaluates rural and critical access hospitals using 36 publicly available metrics across eight performance pillars—including quality, outcomes, patient satisfaction, and financial performance. From this data, the Chartis Center for Rural Health identifies the Top 100, and the NRHA recognizes the highest-performing 20 hospitals from that group.

Altman added: “This recognition reflects the strength of our people. We hire and train the best, we work together to achieve excellence, and we continuously invest in both our organization and our community. We’re proud of our outstanding staff, our supportive board, and the volunteers who make our work possible. Our mission and vision—to provide superior experiences and be one of the best rural hospitals in the nation—are validated by national honors like this. And when you consider that 99.3% of hospitals rank below us in objective data, that’s something worth celebrating.”

Cass Health will be formally recognized at an awards ceremony during the NRHA’s Critical Access Hospital Conference this fall.