Hospice of the Midwest is proud to announce that its Guthrie Center location has been awarded the 2025 Quality Award for Small Branches. This recognition highlights the company’s continued commitment to providing exceptional, personalized end of life care to Iowa families.
Guthrie Center Hospice of the Midwest serves Adair, Guthrie, Greene, Cass, Audubon, Carroll, and Dallas counties. “We are extremely proud of our staff for their unwavering dedication to providing patients and families with high quality, compassionate and supportive care during the end stages of one’s life,” said Lynnea Andersen, regional administrator at Hospice of the Midwest IA. “This award is well-deserved, demonstrating our commitment to exceeding industry standards and ensuring that our patients and families receive the best possible hospice care and comfort.”
The Guthrie Center location has demonstrated outstanding results across several key performance metrics:
Hospice Quality Scorecard – Exceeded the target of 12 on the 2024 quality scorecard with a final score of 13.1.
Live Discharges: Earned a discharge rate of 8.5 percent, significantly lower than the goal of 20 percent.
Visits Near Death: Outperformed the national average on the Hospice Care Index (HCI) Visits Near Death, with a remarkable score of 98.17 percent.
Hospice Visits Last Days of Life (HVLDL): Scored 30 percent higher than the national average, with a cumulative score of 78.3 percent, compared to the national average of 47.9 percent.
CMS Hospice Care Index: Earned a perfect score of 10 on the publicly reported CMS Hospice Care Index, which captures care processes throughout the hospice stay, between admission and discharge.
Pictured are (front, from left) Julie Bishop, CNA hospice aide; Bailey Illg, social worker; Carol Laughery, dietician; and Barbara Jacobsen, RN case manager. (Second row, from left) Jenna Anderson, CNA hospice aide; Erica Murphy, RN case manager; Lakota Sickles, CNA hospice aide; Rachel Stoline, CNA hospice aide; Carly Fry, RN patient care manager; Amanda Hoffman, social worker; and Tiffany Johnson, community liaison. (Back row, from left) Lynnea Anderson, LMSW, CHP, Regional Administrator; Joey Weber, Volunteer Coordinator; Dora Sircher, Nurse Practitioner, Robyn Van Zee, team coordinator; Mackenzie Davis, CNA hospice aide; Kelly Gafkjen, chaplain, Alex Mcgregor, RN case manager; Wes Zollman, RN case manager, Carla Mueller-Kem, bereavement coordinator; and Marie Lane, LPN intake coordinator. Not pictured are Natasha Hansen, LPN; Tanny Miller, LPN; Susie Kennebeck-Thelen, community liaison; Stacey Wood, RN case manager; Tiffany Benavides, PRN RN case manager; and Laurisa Stringer, PRN RN case manager.
