CMS certification 391315
Penn Highlands Elk
763 Johnsonburg Road, Saint Marys, PA 15857
Penn Highlands Elk has a CMS overall rating of 4 out of 5 stars. 59% 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 3 h 8 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.
What patients said
Answers from patients who stayed here, collected by CMS in the national HCAHPS survey: 222 completed surveys, 36% response rate, Oct 2024 – Sep 2025.
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 | PA | US |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median time in the emergency department before leaving Lower is better · 386 visits sampled · US median for EDs of the same volume: 2 h 3 min | 3 h 8 min | 3 h 6 min | 2 h 42 min |
| Median time for psychiatric and mental health patients Lower is better · 19 visits sampled | 7 h | 4 h 57 min | 4 h 17 min |
| Left before being seen Lower is better · 13,569 patients | 3% | 2% | 2% |
| Severe sepsis and septic shock: all recommended care given Higher is better · 47 patients | 62% | 60% | 65% |
How Penn Highlands Elk 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Penn Highlands ElkThis hospital | 4/5 | 59% | 3 h 8 min | 1 better |
| Penn Highlands BrookvilleSame ZIP area · Brookville | 4/5 | 74% | 2 h 15 min | 1 better |
| Penn Highlands DuboisSame ZIP area · Dubois | 2/5 | 54% | 2 h 44 min | 4 better 1 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 342 cases | Too few cases | 4.3% | 3.9% |
| Heart failure 93 cases | Too few cases | 12.8% | 11.1% |
| Pneumonia 128 cases | Too few cases | 15.3% | 15.2% |
| Stroke 31 cases | Too few cases | 12.5% | 11.9% |
| COPD 38 cases | Too few cases | 8.2% | 8.6% |
2 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.
| 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.
| Measure | CMS comparison | This hospital | National |
|---|---|---|---|
| Readmitted after heart failure 100 cases | Too few cases | 21.6% | 21.3% |
| Readmitted after pneumonia 156 cases | Too few cases | 16.8% | 17.3% |
| Readmitted after COPD 67 cases | Too few cases | 19% | 20% |
| Days back in hospital after heart failure 96 cases | Too few cases | 0.7 days per 100 | — |
| Days back in hospital after pneumonia 130 cases | Too few cases | 28.8 days per 100 | — |
| Unplanned visits after an outpatient colonoscopy 332 cases | No different | 12.8 per 1,000 likely 9.6 per 1,000 – 17.3 per 1,000 | 13 per 1,000 |
| Unplanned visits after outpatient surgery 48 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
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 |
|---|---|
| Occupational Therapist | 5 |
| Anesthesiology | 3 |
| Dietitian, Registered | 3 |
| Nurse Anesthetist, Certified Registered | 3 |
| Pharmacist | 3 |
| Physical Therapist | 3 |
| Speech-Language Pathologist | 3 |
| Nurse Practitioner | 2 |
| Physician Assistant | 2 |
| Anatomic Pathology & Clinical Pathology | 1 |
| Internal Medicine | 1 |
| Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation | 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 Penn Highlands Elk
Is Penn Highlands Elk a good hospital?
Penn Highlands Elk 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 Penn Highlands Elk?
59% of patients who answered CMS's national survey would definitely recommend it, against a US average of 71%. The figure comes from 222 completed HCAHPS surveys.
How long is the wait in the Penn Highlands Elk emergency room?
Emergency patients spend a median of 3 h 8 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. 3% of emergency patients left before being seen (US 2%). These are medians over a year of visits, not a live wait time.