USCareCheck

CMS certification 281360

Box Butte General Hospital

P O Box 810, 2101 Box Butte Ave, Alliance, NE 69301

Critical Access Hospitals Emergency services

Box Butte General Hospital has a CMS overall rating of 4 out of 5 stars. 64% of patients who answered CMS's national survey would definitely recommend it, against a US average of 71%. Of the 12 death, complication, infection and readmission measures CMS could compare, it does better than the nation on 1 and worse on none. Emergency patients spend a median of 2 h 16 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 4/5 CMS summary of quality measures
Would definitely recommend 64% US average 71%
Patient survey rating 4/5 127 completed surveys
Compared with the nation 0 worse 1 better of 12 measures CMS could compare

What patients said

Answers from patients who stayed here, collected by CMS in the national HCAHPS survey: 127 completed surveys, 23% response rate, Oct 2024 – Sep 2025.

There were discrepancies in the data collection process.
Would definitely recommend the hospital
64%
NE 78% · US 71% · 3 of 5 stars
Rated the hospital 9 or 10 out of 10
68%
NE 79% · US 72% · 4 of 5 stars
Nurses always communicated well
76%
NE 84% · US 80% · 3 of 5 stars
Doctors always communicated well
81%
NE 84% · US 80% · 4 of 5 stars
Staff always explained new medicines
66%
NE 66% · US 62% · 3 of 5 stars
Given information about recovering at home
94%
NE 89% · US 86% · 5 of 5 stars
Room was always clean
70%
NE 78% · US 74% · 4 of 5 stars
Always quiet at night
62%
NE 69% · US 60% · 4 of 5 stars

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 · 1,288 visits sampled · US median for EDs of the same volume: 2 h 3 min 2 h 16 min 1 h 53 min 2 h 42 min
Median time for psychiatric and mental health patients Lower is better · 53 visits sampled 2 h 27 min 2 h 41 min 4 h 17 min
Left before being seen Lower is better · 5,138 patients 2% 1% 2%

How Box Butte General Hospital 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
Box Butte General HospitalThis hospital4/564%2 h 16 min1 better
Morrill County Community HospitalSame ZIP area · BridgeportNot rated92%2 h 26 minNo different
Chadron HospitalSame ZIP area · Chadron3/572%1 h 50 minNo different
Regional West Medical CenterSame ZIP area · Scottsbluff2/547%3 h 22 min1 better 2 worse

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 215 cases Too few cases 4.2% 3.9%
Heart failure 38 cases Too few cases 12.1% 11.1%
Pneumonia 37 cases Too few cases 16.9% 15.2%
COPD 29 cases Too few cases 10.3% 8.6%

3 more measures had too few cases here to report.

Complications

How often patients had serious complications, most of them after surgery, adjusted for how sick they were. Lower is better. Data from Jul 2022 – Jun 2024.

Measure CMS comparison This hospital National
After hip or knee replacement 86 cases Too few cases 3.8% 4.1%

12 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 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.

1 no different
Measure CMS comparison This hospital National
Readmitted after heart failure 30 cases Too few cases 20.7% 21.3%
Readmitted after pneumonia 39 cases Too few cases 17.9% 17.3%
Readmitted after hip or knee replacement 90 cases Too few cases 5.5% 5.8%
Days back in hospital after heart failure 45 cases Too few cases -21.7 days per 100 —
Days back in hospital after pneumonia 46 cases Too few cases -7 days per 100 —
Unplanned visits after an outpatient colonoscopy 156 cases No different 12.7 per 1,000 likely 9.4 per 1,000 – 17.3 per 1,000 13 per 1,000

8 more measures had too few cases here to report.

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 Box Butte General Hospital

Is Box Butte General Hospital a good hospital?

Box Butte General Hospital has a CMS overall rating of 4 out of 5 stars. Of the 12 death, complication, infection and readmission measures CMS could compare, it does better than the nation on 1 and worse on none. These are hospital-wide results published by CMS; they do not rate individual doctors or departments.

Would patients recommend Box Butte General Hospital?

64% of patients who answered CMS's national survey would definitely recommend it, against a US average of 71%. The figure comes from 127 completed HCAHPS surveys.

How long is the wait in the Box Butte General Hospital emergency room?

Emergency patients spend a median of 2 h 16 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. 2% of emergency patients left before being seen (US 2%). These are medians over a year of visits, not a live wait time.