Area hospitals earn grants for projects

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Fifteen rural hospitals in South Dakota will receive a total of $201,880 in grants for projects ranging from medication error reduction to telehealth.

These area hospitals received funds:

Platte Health Center Avera, $14,367, and Wagner Community Memorial Hospital, $22,000, for patient safety; Community Memorial Hospital, Burke, $5,401, and Avera St. Benedict Health Center, Parkston, $9,675, for clinical health information technology.

The grant funding comes from the federal Medicare Rural Hospital Flexibility Program.

To be eligible, hospitals must have received a Medicare certification as a Critical Access Hospital (CAH). Hospitals certified as CAHs receive a higher Medicare reimbursement rate and are eligible for grant funding for such projects as enhanced information systems.

South Dakota currently has 38 critical access hospitals.

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