USCareCheck

CMS certification 161374

Myrtue Medical Center

1213 Garfield Avenue, Harlan, IA 51537

Critical Access Hospitals Emergency services Birthing-friendly

Myrtue Medical Center has a CMS overall rating of 3 out of 5 stars. 76% of patients who answered CMS's national survey would definitely recommend it, against a US average of 71%. On all 10 death, complication, infection and readmission measures CMS could compare, it is no different from the national rate. Emergency patients spend a median of 1 h 1 min in its emergency department before leaving (US median 2 h 42 min).

Every figure on this page is published by CMS; we arrange and explain it, and score nothing ourselves.

CMS overall rating 3/5 CMS summary of quality measures
Would definitely recommend 76% US average 71%
Patient survey rating Not rated 99 completed surveys
Compared with the nation 0 worse 0 better of 10 measures CMS could compare

What patients said

Answers from patients who stayed here, collected by CMS in the national HCAHPS survey: 99 completed surveys, 30% response rate, Oct 2024 – Sep 2025.

Fewer than 100 patients completed the CAHPS survey. Use these scores with caution, as the number of surveys may be too low to reliably assess facility performance.
Would definitely recommend the hospital
76%
IA 76% · US 71%
Rated the hospital 9 or 10 out of 10
86%
IA 78% · US 72%
Nurses always communicated well
86%
IA 83% · US 80%
Doctors always communicated well
89%
IA 82% · US 80%
Staff always explained new medicines
70%
IA 65% · US 62%
Given information about recovering at home
91%
IA 89% · US 86%
Room was always clean
85%
IA 78% · US 74%
Always quiet at night
75%
IA 65% · US 60%

This hospital Iowa average US average

Emergency department

How long emergency patients spent here and how some time-critical care went, from CMS's timely and effective care measures, Oct 2024 – Sep 2025. CMS classes this emergency department's patient volume as low; busier departments tend to have longer times, so the national median for departments of the same volume is shown too. These are medians over a year of visits, not a live wait time.

Measure This hospital IA US
Median time in the emergency department before leaving Lower is better · 369 visits sampled · US median for EDs of the same volume: 2 h 3 min 1 h 1 min 2 h 3 min 2 h 42 min
Left before being seen Lower is better · 5,698 patients 0% 3% 2%
Severe sepsis and septic shock: all recommended care given Higher is better · 16 patients 75% 63% 65%

How Myrtue Medical Center compares with nearby hospitals

The closest hospitals of the same kind that CMS rates or surveys - the same city first, then the same county and ZIP area. Every figure is CMS's: the overall star rating, the share of patients who would definitely recommend the hospital, the median time emergency patients spent before leaving, and how many death, complication, infection and readmission measures CMS found better or worse than the national rate.

Hospital CMS stars Would recommend ER median time Vs the nation
Myrtue Medical CenterThis hospital3/576%1 h 1 minNo different
Chi Health Missouri ValleySame ZIP area · Missouri Valley4/564%1 h 45 min1 worse
Montgomery County Memorial HospitalSame ZIP area · Red OakNot rated70%1 h 53 min1 worse
Chi Health Mercy Council BluffsSame ZIP area · Council Bluffs5/563%2 h 51 min1 better 1 worse
Methodist Jennie EdmundsonSame ZIP area · Council Bluffs3/573%2 h 30 minNo different

Hospitals differ in size and in how sick their patients are. CMS adjusts its outcome measures for that, but a star or a percentage is a starting point for questions, not a verdict.

Deaths

How many patients died within 30 days of admission, adjusted by CMS for how sick they were. Lower is better. Data from Jul 2022 – Jun 2025.

Measure CMS comparison This hospital National
All patients, hospital-wide 208 cases Too few cases 4.4% 3.9%
Heart failure 61 cases Too few cases 13.2% 11.1%
Pneumonia 92 cases Too few cases 16.6% 15.2%
COPD 30 cases Too few cases 9.8% 8.6%

3 more measures had too few cases here to report.

Infections caught in the hospital

Standardized infection ratio: 1.0 means as many infections as CMS predicted for a hospital like this one. Lower is better. Data from Oct 2024 – Sep 2025.

1 no different
Measure CMS comparison This hospital National
C. diff intestinal infections No different 0.96 likely 0.05 – 4.75 1

5 more measures had too few cases here to report.

Readmissions and return visits

How often patients had to come back to a hospital after going home. Lower is better. Data from Jul 2023 – Jun 2025.

3 no different
Measure CMS comparison This hospital National
Readmitted after heart failure 47 cases Too few cases 22.2% 21.3%
Readmitted after pneumonia 63 cases Too few cases 17.3% 17.3%
Days back in hospital after heart failure 66 cases Too few cases 27.3 days per 100 —
Days back in hospital after pneumonia 95 cases Too few cases 46 days per 100 —
Hospital admissions during outpatient chemotherapy 37 cases No different 9.7 per 100 likely 6.5 per 100 – 14.4 per 100 10.7 per 100
ER visits during outpatient chemotherapy 37 cases No different 6.2 per 100 likely 4 per 100 – 9.6 per 100 5.4 per 100
Unplanned visits after outpatient surgery 33 cases No different 1 likely 0.7 – 1.4 —

7 more measures had too few cases here to report.

Not reported for this hospital

CMS had too few cases here to publish results for complications. That is common at small, rural and specialty hospitals, and says nothing either way about quality.

Clinicians registered at this address

24 clinicians give this hospital's street address as their practice location in NPPES, the federal provider registry. The same address can take in offices and clinics in the building, and a listing does not prove admitting privileges or current employment.

Specialty Clinicians
Physical Therapist 4
Behavior Technician 3
Physical Therapy Assistant 3
Clinical 2
Dietitian, Registered 2
Occupational Therapist 2
Speech-Language Pathologist 2
Family 1
Mental Health 1
Nurse Anesthetist, Certified Registered 1
Obstetrics & Gynecology 1
Orthopedic 1

First 12 alphabetically

How to read this page

  • Everything here is published by CMS on Care Compare. We arrange it and explain it; the star ratings and the better / worse verdicts are CMS's, not ours.
  • “No different” is the most common result on most measures at most hospitals. CMS only calls a result better or worse when the difference from the national rate is statistically clear.
  • Death, complication and readmission rates are adjusted by CMS for how sick patients were, so hospitals that treat sicker patients can be compared fairly.
  • Infection results are ratios: 1.0 means as many infections as CMS predicted for a hospital like this one, below 1.0 is fewer.
  • These are hospital-wide results. They do not rate an individual doctor, nurse or department, and they are not medical advice.

CMS Care Compare data retrieved 4 Oct 2026, refreshed weekly. Where this data comes from and how we handle it · Report an error

Common questions about Myrtue Medical Center

Is Myrtue Medical Center a good hospital?

Myrtue Medical Center has a CMS overall rating of 3 out of 5 stars. On all 10 death, complication, infection and readmission measures CMS could compare, it is no different from the national rate. These are hospital-wide results published by CMS; they do not rate individual doctors or departments.

Would patients recommend Myrtue Medical Center?

76% of patients who answered CMS's national survey would definitely recommend it, against a US average of 71%. The figure comes from 99 completed HCAHPS surveys.

How long is the wait in the Myrtue Medical Center emergency room?

Emergency patients spend a median of 1 h 1 min in its emergency department before leaving (US median 2 h 42 min). Among US emergency departments with low patient volume, like this one, the median is 2 h 3 min. 0% of emergency patients left before being seen (US 2%). These are medians over a year of visits, not a live wait time.