USCareCheck

CMS certification 431305

Douglas County Memorial Hospital-Cah

708 8th St, Armour, SD 57313

Critical Access Hospitals Emergency services

CMS does not publish an overall star rating for Douglas County Memorial Hospital-Cah. 84% of patients who answered CMS's national survey would definitely recommend it, against a US average of 71%. On all 2 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 58 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 36 completed surveys
Compared with the nation 0 worse 0 better of 2 measures CMS could compare

What patients said

Answers from patients who stayed here, collected by CMS in the national HCAHPS survey: 36 completed surveys, 47% 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%
SD 77% · US 71%
Rated the hospital 9 or 10 out of 10
88%
SD 77% · US 72%
Nurses always communicated well
92%
SD 83% · US 80%
Doctors always communicated well
93%
SD 85% · US 80%
Staff always explained new medicines
84%
SD 68% · US 62%
Given information about recovering at home
84%
SD 88% · US 86%
Room was always clean
86%
SD 77% · US 74%
Always quiet at night
77%
SD 70% · US 60%

This hospital South Dakota 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 SD US
Median time in the emergency department before leaving Lower is better · 252 visits sampled · US median for EDs of the same volume: 2 h 3 min 1 h 58 min 1 h 55 min 2 h 42 min
Left before being seen Lower is better · 430 patients 0% 1% 2%

How Douglas County Memorial Hospital-Cah 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
Douglas County Memorial Hospital-CahThis hospitalNot rated84%1 h 58 minNo different
Avera Queen of PeaceSame ZIP area · Mitchell4/566%1 h 44 min2 better
Huron Regional Medical CenterSame ZIP area · Huron2/559%1 h 40 min1 worse
Avera Hand County Memorial Hospital and ClinicSame ZIP area · MillerNot rated94%1 h 51 minNo different
Avera St Benedict Health Center - CahSame ZIP area · Parkston5/589%1 h 49 minNo different
Platte Health CenterSame ZIP area · PlatteNot rated87%2 h 8 min1 better

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 48 cases Too few cases 4.9% 3.9%

6 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, readmissions and return visits. That is common at small, rural and specialty hospitals, and says nothing either way about quality.

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 Douglas County Memorial Hospital-Cah

Is Douglas County Memorial Hospital-Cah a good hospital?

CMS does not publish an overall star rating for Douglas County Memorial Hospital-Cah. On all 2 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 Douglas County Memorial Hospital-Cah?

84% of patients who answered CMS's national survey would definitely recommend it, against a US average of 71%. The figure comes from 36 completed HCAHPS surveys.

How long is the wait in the Douglas County Memorial Hospital-Cah emergency room?

Emergency patients spend a median of 1 h 58 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.