Harrison County Community Hospital Honored With Aim For Excellence Award
Harrison County Community Hospital in Bethany, Mo., was honored with the Missouri Hospital Association’s 2026 Aim For Excellence Award for quality improvement among patients experiencing chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. The award was presented Nov. 4 at MHA’s 104th Annual Convention in Kansas City, Mo.
“Higher than expected rates of patient readmission are a signal,” said Jon D. Doolittle, MHA president and CEO. “Harrison County Community Hospital built systems around patients suffering from COPD to ensure that they had the care and services necessary — at discharge and after — to avoid returning to the hospital unnecessarily.”
The hospital set a goal of reducing COPD readmissions to less than 10% and implemented programs around patients’ medication management, delayed symptom recognition, follow-up care gaps and social support limitations. Since 2023-2024 — when the 12-month average baseline was established — the hospital has successfully reduced the rate to below the 10% target annually and sustained the effort. Harrison County Community Hospital has had zero COPD readmissions since January 2025.
"We are incredibly grateful to the Missouri Hospital Association for this recognition and proud of what our readmission reduction team has accomplished,” said Lisa McGhee, R.N., RHTP Hub 3 Coordinator and former Director of Quality and Safety, at Harrison County Community Hospital. “By bringing together a multidisciplinary team and focusing on simple, practical interventions, we created a consistent approach to COPD care that could be implemented at every patient touchpoint. The strength of this initiative was not in complex processes, but in delivering clear education, reliable tools, and coordinated support that helped patients better understand and manage their disease. Seeing the significant impact this work has had on reducing readmissions and improving the quality of life for our patients makes this award especially meaningful. This recognition belongs to every team member who contributed to making better outcomes possible for our patients."
A video honoring Harrison County Community Hospital is available here.
Photo caption: Stephen L. Reintjes Sr., M.D., president and CEO of NKC Health in North Kansas City, Mo., and 2026 MHA Board Chair (left), and Jon D. Doolittle, MHA President and CEO (right) present the 2026 Aim For Excellence Award to the Harrison County Community Hospital team.
The Missouri Hospital Association is a nonprofit association in Jefferson City that represents 138 Missouri hospitals. In addition to representation and advocacy on behalf of its membership, the association offers continuing education programs on current health care topics and seeks to educate the public about health care issues.