Howard Memorial Hospital Earns Top Patient Recommendation Rating

Members of the Howard Memorial Hospital Board of Directors received an update on the hospital’s quality and performance measures during their regular monthly meeting on Tuesday, June 23.

Beth Schooley, Director of Quality, Risk Management and Compliance, presented the Performance Improvement Board Report, highlighting several areas in which the hospital has received recognition.

According to Schooley, Howard Memorial Hospital was recently named among the hospitals patients would most likely recommend, based on Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) data compiled by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and published by Becker’s Hospital Review.

The May 2026 report included 765 hospitals nationwide that earned a five-star patient recommendation rating. Of those, only nine hospitals in Arkansas made the list. Howard Memorial Hospital was one of the nine and one of only two Critical Access Hospitals in the state to receive the distinction.

Board members also reviewed emergency department performance data. Becker’s Hospital Review recently compared emergency department visit times across the nation using CMS data. While the average emergency department length of stay in Arkansas was reported at 140 minutes, Howard Memorial Hospital’s most recent data showed an average stay of 111 minutes.

When transfers and psychiatric or mental health patients were excluded, the hospital’s average emergency department stay dropped to 106 minutes, well below the statewide average.

In other business, the board approved the reappointments of Alexandria Davis, NP-C, to the Courtesy Staff and Denise Graves, RDN.