USCareCheck

CMS certification 281307

Saunders Medical Center

1760 County Rd J, Wahoo, NE 68066

Critical Access Hospitals Emergency services

CMS does not publish an overall star rating for Saunders Medical Center. 84% of patients who answered CMS's national survey would definitely recommend it, against a US average of 71%. On all 5 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 34 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 Not rated There are too few measures or measure groups reported to calculate a star rating or measure group score.
Would definitely recommend 84% US average 71%
Patient survey rating Not rated 27 completed surveys
Compared with the nation 0 worse 0 better of 5 measures CMS could compare

What patients said

Answers from patients who stayed here, collected by CMS in the national HCAHPS survey: 27 completed surveys, 38% response rate, Oct 2024 – Sep 2025.

Very few patients were eligible for the CAHPS survey. The scores shown reflect fewer than 50 completed surveys. Use these scores with caution, as the number of surveys may be too low to reliably assess facility performance.
Would definitely recommend the hospital
84%
NE 78% · US 71%
Rated the hospital 9 or 10 out of 10
68%
NE 79% · US 72%
Nurses always communicated well
86%
NE 84% · US 80%
Doctors always communicated well
81%
NE 84% · US 80%
Staff always explained new medicines
72%
NE 66% · US 62%
Given information about recovering at home
99%
NE 89% · US 86%
Room was always clean
76%
NE 78% · US 74%
Always quiet at night
89%
NE 69% · US 60%

This hospital Nebraska 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 NE US
Median time in the emergency department before leaving Lower is better · 294 visits sampled · US median for EDs of the same volume: 2 h 3 min 1 h 34 min 1 h 53 min 2 h 42 min
Left before being seen Lower is better · 2,423 patients 0% 1% 2%

How Saunders 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
Saunders Medical CenterThis hospitalNot rated84%1 h 34 minNo different
Pender Community HospitalSame ZIP area · PenderNot rated89%2 h 8 min1 worse
Chi Health MidlandsSame ZIP area · Papillion4/575%2 h 17 min1 better
Methodist Fremont HealthSame ZIP area · Fremont2/566%2 h 6 min1 better 2 worse
Memorial Community Hospital & Health SystemSame ZIP area · BlairNot rated72%2 h 8 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 43 cases Too few cases 3.9% 3.9%
Pneumonia 40 cases Too few cases 19.2% 15.2%

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.

Measure CMS comparison This hospital National
Readmitted after pneumonia 27 cases Too few cases 17.4% 17.3%
Days back in hospital after pneumonia 39 cases Too few cases 101.1 days per 100 —

12 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, infections caught in the hospital. That is common at small, rural and specialty hospitals, and says nothing either way about quality.

Clinicians registered at this address

31 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
Family Medicine 5
Nurse Practitioner 4
Registered Nurse 3
Family 2
Physical Therapist 2
Physical Therapy Assistant 2
Physician Assistant 2
Speech-Language Pathologist 2
Clinical 1
Dietitian, Registered 1
Health & Wellness Coach 1
Mental Health 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 Saunders Medical Center

Is Saunders Medical Center a good hospital?

CMS does not publish an overall star rating for Saunders Medical Center. On all 5 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 Saunders Medical Center?

84% of patients who answered CMS's national survey would definitely recommend it, against a US average of 71%. The figure comes from 27 completed HCAHPS surveys.

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

Emergency patients spend a median of 1 h 34 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.