HPCI News: Overall Five-Star Hospital Quality Ratings Now Available
To: Members and Selected Others
A giant step forward in the movement for health care transparency occurred the end of July. That’s when the first release of Overall Five-Star Hospital Quality Ratings became available publically on CMS Hospital Compare website. It summarizes up to 64 quality measures reflecting common conditions that hospitals treat such as heart attacks and pneumonia.
The rating is designed to help individuals, their family members, and caregivers compare hospitals in an easily understandable way. Over the past decade. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid (CMS) has published information about the quality of care across the five different health care settings that most families encounter.
This new information is especially important for Iowa due to the many small hospitals here. Of the 117 Iowa hospitals, 82 are Critical Access Hospitals (25 beds or less). There has been little, if any, quality information publically available for these hospitals until now. There is now a Five-Star Quality rating for about one-half of these Critical Access Hospitals. Additionally, such a rating is available for all the larger hospitals.
Here are some examples:
Five-Stars
- CHI Health Bergan Mercy, Omaha
- Mercy Hospital, Iowa City
- Midwest Surgical Hospital, Omaha
- Mayo Clinic Hospital Rochester, MN
Four-Stars
- Avera MCKENNAN Hospital and University Health Center, Sioux Falls, SD
- Genesis Medical Center, Davenport
- Gunderson Lutheran Hospital, Le Crosse, WI
- Iowa Lutheran Hospital, Des Moines
- Myrtue Medical Center, Harlan
- Mercy Medical Center, Cedar Rapids
- Mercy Medical Center, Dubuque
- Pella Reginal Health Center, Pella
- Jefferson County Health Center, Fairfield
- Mayo Clinic Health System, Albert Lea
- Orange City Area Health System, Orange City
- Osceola Community Hospital, Sibley
- Sanford USD Medical Center, Sioux Falls, SD
- St. Lukes Hospital, Cedar Rapids
- U of I Hospitals and Clinics, Iowa City
- Waverly Health Center, Waverly
Three-Stars
- Broadlawns Medical Center, Des Moines
- Finley Hospital, Dubuque
- Iowa Methodist Medical Center, Des Moines
- Lucas County Health Center, Chariton
- Mary Greeley Medical Center, Ames
- Methodist Hospital, Omaha
- Mercy Medical Center, Des Moines
- Mercy Medical Center – North Iowa, Mason City
- Grinnell Regional Medical Center, Grinnell
- Skiff Medical Center, Newton
- Trinity Muscatine
- Winneakiek Medical Center, Decorah
Two-Stars
- Allen Hospital, Waterloo
- Mercy Medical Center, Clinton
- Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha
- Knoxville Hospital and Clinics, Knoxville
For more information go to www.medicare.gov/hospitalcompare.
Paul M. Pietzsch, MPH
HPCI - IHBA Office
4430 Ashley Park Drive
West Des Moines, Iowa 50265
(515) 778-6300