Most recent reports, articles, surveys and assessments have consistently shown that small, community based hospitals such as the Clinton County Hospital in Albany, are in trouble, financially and otherwise.

While that trend is disturbing to residents and officials in small, rural communities similar to Albany and Clinton County that are faced with the possibility of losing one of it’s major health care facilities, not all of the news coming out concerning many small hospitals is of the negative nature.

A case in point to that was brought to light last week when Clinton County Hospital Administrator J.D. Mullins announced to the Clinton County News that the local facility had recently been cited as being one of the cleanest hospital facilities in the nation as far as it’s rating of patient room cleanliness.

The ranking was released earlier this month by Becker’s Healthcare, which publishes a series e-newsletters relating to the hospital and healthcare industry.

According to the article, the Clinton County Hospital fell into the 91 percent ranking from a survey of hospital patients who reported that their room and bathroom facility was always clean.

The survey that gathered the data is the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS).

Clinton County Hospital’s 91 percent ranking placed it in the top 52 hospitals with the cleanest patient rooms according to the patient survey, the article, which was written by Heather Punke, noted.

Clinton County Hospital Administrator Mullins told the Clinton County News that he was especially proud for the Hospital’s housekeeping supervisor, Phyllis Flowers, and her entire staff for having achieved the level of room cleanliness that resulted in the local facility being recognized in this regard.

The 91 percent ranking for Clinton County compares to a nationwide ranking average of patients reporting their room and bathroom were “always” clean at 74 percent.

The data in the survey used to make the most recent ranking was taken from surveys taken from the 2013 calendar year, the most recent data that was available, according to the Becker’s article.

According to information taken from the Hospital Compare website, the officials US. Government site for Medicare, the HCAHPS survey was developed to provide a standardized survey for measuring patients’ perspectives on hospital care.

The survey is given to a random sample of patients at hospitals throughout each year.