USCareCheck

CMS certification 281362

Phelps Memorial Health Center

1215 Tibbals St, Holdrege, NE 68949

Critical Access Hospitals Emergency services

Phelps Memorial Health Center has a CMS overall rating of 4 out of 5 stars. 86% of patients who answered CMS's national survey would definitely recommend it, against a US average of 71%. Of the 10 death, complication, infection and readmission measures CMS could compare, it does better than the nation on 1 and worse on 1. Emergency patients spend a median of 1 h 27 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 86% US average 71%
Patient survey rating 5/5 286 completed surveys
Compared with the nation 1 worse 1 better of 10 measures CMS could compare

What patients said

Answers from patients who stayed here, collected by CMS in the national HCAHPS survey: 286 completed surveys, 45% response rate, Oct 2024 – Sep 2025.

Would definitely recommend the hospital
86%
NE 78% · US 71% · 5 of 5 stars
Rated the hospital 9 or 10 out of 10
85%
NE 79% · US 72% · 5 of 5 stars
Nurses always communicated well
85%
NE 84% · US 80% · 5 of 5 stars
Doctors always communicated well
87%
NE 84% · US 80% · 5 of 5 stars
Staff always explained new medicines
63%
NE 66% · US 62% · 3 of 5 stars
Given information about recovering at home
91%
NE 89% · US 86% · 5 of 5 stars
Room was always clean
82%
NE 78% · US 74% · 5 of 5 stars
Always quiet at night
70%
NE 69% · US 60% · 5 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 · 360 visits sampled · US median for EDs of the same volume: 2 h 3 min 1 h 27 min 1 h 53 min 2 h 42 min
Left before being seen Lower is better · 3,686 patients 0% 1% 2%

How Phelps Memorial Health 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
Phelps Memorial Health CenterThis hospital4/586%1 h 27 min1 better 1 worse
Kearney County Health Services HospitalSame ZIP area · MindenNot rated93%2 h 5 minNo different
Brodstone HealthcareSame ZIP area · Superior4/588%2 h 6 minNo different
Mary Lanning HealthcareSame ZIP area · Hastings2/566%1 h 56 min2 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 216 cases Too few cases 4.4% 3.9%
Heart failure 41 cases Too few cases 11.4% 11.1%
Pneumonia 88 cases Too few cases 19.4% 15.2%

4 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
Urinary tract infections from catheters (CAUTI) 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.

3 no different
Measure CMS comparison This hospital National
Readmitted after heart failure 38 cases Too few cases 20.8% 21.3%
Readmitted after pneumonia 47 cases Too few cases 17% 17.3%
Days back in hospital after heart failure 44 cases Too few cases -36.9 days per 100 —
Days back in hospital after pneumonia 75 cases Too few cases -33.9 days per 100 —
Unplanned visits after an outpatient colonoscopy 225 cases No different 12.5 per 1,000 likely 9.1 per 1,000 – 16.7 per 1,000 13 per 1,000
Hospital admissions during outpatient chemotherapy 44 cases No different 10.4 per 100 likely 7.2 per 100 – 14.5 per 100 10.7 per 100
ER visits during outpatient chemotherapy 44 cases No different 5.5 per 100 likely 3.6 per 100 – 8.3 per 100 5.4 per 100

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

13 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
Nurse Anesthetist, Certified Registered 5
Dietitian, Registered 2
Pharmacist 2
Athletic Trainer 1
Nurse Practitioner 1
Physician Assistant 1
Surgery 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 Phelps Memorial Health Center

Is Phelps Memorial Health Center a good hospital?

Phelps Memorial Health Center has a CMS overall rating of 4 out of 5 stars. Of the 10 death, complication, infection and readmission measures CMS could compare, it does better than the nation on 1 and worse on 1. These are hospital-wide results published by CMS; they do not rate individual doctors or departments.

Would patients recommend Phelps Memorial Health Center?

86% of patients who answered CMS's national survey would definitely recommend it, against a US average of 71%. The figure comes from 286 completed HCAHPS surveys.

How long is the wait in the Phelps Memorial Health Center emergency room?

Emergency patients spend a median of 1 h 27 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.