JACKSON, Calif. – For the fourth year in a row, Sutter Amador Hospital in Jackson has been recognized as a 2024 Top 100 Rural and Community Hospital by The Chartis Center for Rural Health. Out of the 60-plus rural hospitals in California, Sutter Amador is the only hospital honored as one of the nation’s best.

The 52-bed community-based, not-for-profit Sutter Amador Hospital serves a population of more than 40,000 in California’s Gold Country.

“During an era of profound uncertainty for rural healthcare, the Top 100 rural hospitals continue to provide a unique lens through which we can identify innovation and inspiration for how to deliver high quality care to increasingly vulnerable populations,” said Michael Topchik, national leader, The Chartis Center for Rural Health.

Many of the state’s rural hospitals are at risk of shuttering, cutting services and losing physicians, according to the California Hospital Association. However, Sutter Amador continues to add services and physicians. In recent years, it opened an infusion center, launched a Rural Residency Program to bring more doctors to the area, started a pet therapy program for patients in the hospital, and is working with the Sutter Medical Foundation to find ways to bring new services to the community, having just finished a new internal medicine space. This year the hospital will be looking to add nephrology coverage to the community, starting with a new dialysis center that is scheduled to open in May. This comes as a joint venture between Sutter Health and Innovative Renal Care.

CEO Michael Cureton, third from left, celebrates with staff Sutter Amador’s ranking as the best rural hospital in the state.

Some of these additional services were made possible due to the support of the community, which has donated millions of dollars to assist the non-for-profit Sutter Health system to bring needed services to residents and purchase updated medical equipment for the hospital.

“It is truly an honor to once again be recognized as a Rural and Community 100 Top Hospital. This is a testament to the consistent, quality care that we provide Amador residents,” said Michael Cureton, CEO of Sutter Amador Hospital. “This recognition only comes because of the people that make our hospital great. Our employees and providers are dedicated to the patient experience and patient care.”

Chartis’ annual Top 100 award program recognizes outstanding performance among the nation’s rural hospitals based on the results of the Chartis Rural Hospital Performance Index.

Now in its 14th year, the Index is the industry’s most comprehensive and objective assessment of rural hospital performance. Featuring a methodology utilizing publicly available data, the Index is leveraged nationwide by rural hospitals, health systems with rural affiliates, hospital associations, and state offices of rural health to measure and monitor performance across a variety of areas impacting hospital operations and finance.

In addition to the Chartis accolade, Sutter Amador recently received another honor. Cureton was chosen as one of the “110 rural hospital and health system CEOs to know” by Becker’s Hospital Review. Among the accolades, Becker’s noted that Cureton “has a deep interest in population health management, quality improvement and innovation. He has led extensive research on the health needs of his community, leading needs assessments, key partnerships, and the prioritization of health equity, abuse treatment and food insecurity.”

Sutter Amador provides comprehensive services, including 24-hour emergency care, critical and intensive care, diagnostic imaging, a family birth center, surgery, orthopedics, an infusion center and laboratory services. However, there are some advanced services that are only available at larger medical centers, and Sutter Amador’s alignment with specialty services at Sutter facilities in Sacramento, Modesto and throughout Northern California give patients access to the advanced care they may need.

“At Sutter Health, we believe getting better never stops,” Cureton said, “and at Sutter Amador we will continue to find ways to improve and create more access for those who depend on us.”