USCareCheck

CMS certification 501333

Kittitas Valley Community Hospital

603 South Chestnut, Ellensburg, WA 98926

Critical Access Hospitals Emergency services Birthing-friendly

CMS does not publish an overall star rating for Kittitas Valley Community Hospital. 67% of patients who answered CMS's national survey would definitely recommend it, against a US average of 71%. Emergency patients spend a median of 2 h 2 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 Results are not available for this reporting period.
Would definitely recommend 67% US average 71%
Patient survey rating 4/5 159 completed surveys
Compared with the nation Too few cases for CMS to compare

What patients said

Answers from patients who stayed here, collected by CMS in the national HCAHPS survey: 159 completed surveys, 21% response rate, Oct 2024 – Sep 2025.

Would definitely recommend the hospital
67%
WA 71% · US 71% · 4 of 5 stars
Rated the hospital 9 or 10 out of 10
72%
WA 70% · US 72% · 4 of 5 stars
Nurses always communicated well
83%
WA 78% · US 80% · 5 of 5 stars
Doctors always communicated well
86%
WA 79% · US 80% · 4 of 5 stars
Staff always explained new medicines
62%
WA 61% · US 62% · 4 of 5 stars
Given information about recovering at home
90%
WA 87% · US 86% · 4 of 5 stars
Room was always clean
82%
WA 74% · US 74% · 5 of 5 stars
Always quiet at night
61%
WA 53% · US 60% · 4 of 5 stars

This hospital Washington 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 WA US
Median time in the emergency department before leaving Lower is better · 397 visits sampled · US median for EDs of the same volume: 2 h 3 min 2 h 2 min 2 h 31 min 2 h 42 min
Median time for psychiatric and mental health patients Lower is better · 20 visits sampled 3 h 6 min 3 h 58 min 4 h 17 min
Left before being seen Lower is better · 17,269 patients 1% 3% 2%
Stroke symptoms: brain scan read within 45 minutes Higher is better · 30 patients 80% 62% 69%
Severe sepsis and septic shock: all recommended care given Higher is better · 58 patients 86% 60% 65%

How Kittitas Valley Community 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
Kittitas Valley Community HospitalThis hospitalNot rated67%2 h 2 min—
Astria Sunnyside HospitalSame ZIP area · Sunnyside2/566%2 h 2 minNo different
Astria Toppenish HospitalSame ZIP area · ToppenishNot rated73%2 h 30 min1 worse
Yakima Valley MemorialSame ZIP area · Yakima1/551%2 h 41 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
Heart failure 38 cases Too few cases 12.8% 11.1%
Pneumonia 87 cases Too few cases 20.6% 15.2%
Stroke 31 cases Too few cases 16.6% 11.9%
COPD 46 cases Too few cases 9.8% 8.6%

3 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 1.77 likely 0.45 – 4.82 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.

2 no different
Measure CMS comparison This hospital National
Readmitted after heart failure 34 cases Too few cases 21.3% 21.3%
Readmitted after pneumonia 84 cases Too few cases 17.8% 17.3%
Readmitted after COPD 49 cases Too few cases 19.6% 20%
Unplanned visits after an outpatient colonoscopy 947 cases No different 12.1 per 1,000 likely 9 per 1,000 – 15.9 per 1,000 13 per 1,000
Unplanned visits after outpatient surgery 112 cases No different 1.1 likely 0.8 – 1.6 —

9 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

36 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
Emergency Medicine 8
Pharmacist 6
Nurse Anesthetist, Certified Registered 4
Gerontology 3
Physician Assistant 3
Physical Therapist 2
Registered Nurse 2
Ambulatory Care 1
Dental Anesthesiology 1
Dietitian, Registered 1
Family Medicine 1
Nurse Practitioner 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 Kittitas Valley Community Hospital

Would patients recommend Kittitas Valley Community Hospital?

67% of patients who answered CMS's national survey would definitely recommend it, against a US average of 71%. The figure comes from 159 completed HCAHPS surveys.

How long is the wait in the Kittitas Valley Community Hospital emergency room?

Emergency patients spend a median of 2 h 2 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. 1% of emergency patients left before being seen (US 2%). These are medians over a year of visits, not a live wait time.