By Heather Lawrence | [email protected]

Working in health care has been harder than ever since the pandemic hit. But Alta View Hospital administrator Scott Roberson is feeling blessed and riding high since Alta View was ranked as the No. 1 Small Hospital in the Nation earlier this year.

“This recognition comes from Fortune, like the Fortune 500. They partner with a company called Merative and release a list of the top 100 hospitals in the U.S. every year,” Roberson said.

Of the 100 they recognized in 2022, 20 were big teaching hospitals, 40 medium sized hospitals and 40 smaller community hospitals like Alta View.

“We have been named to the list for the last eight years, but this is the first time we’ve ranked as No. 1. This award is a very big deal,” Roberson said.

The Fortune website outlines the methodology for the rankings. It states their researchers evaluated 2,650 short-term, acute care, non-federal U.S. hospitals. Research was based on objective and publicly available data, such as from Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

Hospitals do not apply for awards, and winners do not pay to market this honor. (www.100tophospitals.com)

“(The circumstances of the last two years) make this year’s 100 Top Hospitals list, based on data from 2020, unlike any other in the annual study’s 28-year history,” wrote Erika Fry on Fortune’s website.

“Strikingly, many of the hospitals that rose to the top of this year’s list were standout performers the previous year (2019), suggesting that the high-performing hospitals were better equipped to manage the precarious tests of the pandemic,” Fry said.

Roberson said the honor is based on several factors.

“To be considered, you have to do things really well. You have to provide safe care, low complication rates and have good outcomes. It’s also based on patient surveys, so patients have to have a good experience when they come to the hospital.

“If you add all that together, it means patients who come to receive care get the best care they can and have a great experience here,” Roberson said.

To him the “great experience” element is crucial, and he feels “blessed” to work with the employees at Alta View. 

“One of the things that I am most proud to say about this award is that we earned it through the world’s worst pandemic in over a 100 years.

“It’s been hard on everyone, but especially health care workers. The team has felt that. This demonstrates the commitment of the people who work here. Most of them are from here in the community. They are incredible, and I feel fortunate to work with them,” Roberson said.

The ranking also evaluates the hospital’s financial health and whether they provide care at an affordable cost. “We want those who struggle to still have our services available to them,” Roberson said.

Roberson said hospitals are given the chance during the consideration process to tell researchers how they integrate with and serve their community.  

“We’re near Title I schools and have partnered with them. We have school supply drives and clothing drives. We donate to their food pantries. We’ve done a lot to help them,” Roberson said.

Roberson said recognition as a small hospital underscores they’re doing things well at the community level. So while there’s no plan to grow bigger, they are going to broaden their services.

“We have plans in the works, especially addressing the mental health crisis. We’re building a behavioral health access center for people on our campus, dedicating 38 inpatient adult beds to mental health.

“We’re dedicating 24 beds to medical detox. Those are voluntary beds where you can come in to detox if you’ve overdosed. We’re in the design phase right now, and it should be completed in about three years,” Roberson said.

In addition to Alta View being No. 1, other Utah hospitals who made the list include Cedar City Hospital, Riverton Hospital, Lakeview Hospital, Logan Regional, University of Utah Health, LDS Hospital and Lone Peak Hospital.

“We have a very good niche. We don’t need to be all things to all people. If you need a higher level of care, we can get you stabilized and sent to a specialty center that’s equipped to help you,” Roberson said. “We meet our community’s needs, and we’ll continue to d