From the Susquehanna County Independent
Barnes-Kasson Hospital in Susquehanna, PA, an affiliate of Wayne Memorial Health System, Inc., in Honesdale, PA, achieved national recognition in September 2025 for its emergency department’s (ED) performance by earning one of the top scores in the country on the Medicare Beneficiary Quality Improvement Project (MBQIP) metric OP-18b. This metric is the median time from arrival in the ED to discharge. The facility recorded a median time of 83 minutes, outperforming not only other hospitals across Pennsylvania but also facilities nationwide.
Barnes-Kasson’s success contributes to Pennsylvania’s strong statewide performance, as the state’s Critical Access Hospitals have ranked number one in the nation in the MBQIP program for two consecutive years.
Chief Executive Officer Sara Adornato said, “Barnes-Kasson Hospital’s 83-minute throughput time is truly remarkable. Their commitment to efficiency and patient-centered care stands out as a model for rural hospitals everywhere.”
In December 2024, Barnes-Kasson earned the 2024 Performance Leadership Award for excellence in quality from The Chartis Center for Rural Health. “The Performance Leadership Awards capture the commitment, diligence, and innovation with which America’s rural hospitals approach the delivery of care within their communities,” stated Troy Brown of The Chartis Center for Rural Health. The awards recognize top performance among rural hospitals in quality, outcomes and/or patient perspective. Benchmarks are used in rural health to measure performance across multiple areas that impact operations and finance.
In July of 2024, Barnes-Kasson Hospital became an affiliate of Wayne Memorial Health System Inc., an arrangement that benefits both organizations through “shared services and space.” In 2024, Wayne Memorial Physician Specialty Practice added orthopedics and urology services at Barnes-Kasson. They added two more cardiology and pulmonary, further expanding their services.
Some of the current challenges and obstacles facing rural health care organizations often include workforce shortages, lower patient volumes, reimbursement rates, an aging patient population, limited transportation infrastructure, poor broadband connectivity, aging structures, and more. These factors can lead to higher patient health risks, difficulties in recruiting and retaining staff, budget issues, and a reduction in the quality and availability of care.