RiverView Health received a four-star rating in last week’s Hospital Compare report from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). The rating reflects measured performance data from 2019.
Hospital Compare is part of Medicare’s Hospital Quality Initiative that uses a variety of tools to help hospitals improve the quality of care they deliver. Hospital Compare shares information on over 4,000 Medicare-certified hospitals. The overall hospital rating ranges from one to five stars. The more stars, the better a hospital performed on the available quality measures. The most common overall hospital rating is three stars. Neighboring Altru received a two-star rating; Sanford Thief River Falls received a three-star.
The information on Hospital Compare is designed to:
- Helps patients make decisions about where to get health care
- Encourage hospitals to improve the quality of care they provide
Hospital Compare was created through the efforts of CMS in collaboration with organizations representing consumers, hospitals, doctors, employers, accrediting organizations, and other federal agencies. The overall hospital rating includes a variety of more than 100 measures, divided into seven categories: Mortality, Safety of Care, Readmission, Patient Experience, Effectiveness of Care, Timeliness of Care, and Efficient Use of Medical Imaging.
While RiverView is proud of its ranking in all of the categories, hearing from the people it serves in the Survey of Patients’ Experiences is the most powerful.
“Our team is committed to quality care and top-notch patient experience,’’ stated RiverView President/CEO Carrie Michalski. “RiverView has consistently achieved a four-star ranking from CMS and performs better on these measures than any hospital, of any size, in a 50-mile radius. It is quite an achievement and something in which our team is very proud.’’
Along with the overall hospital rating, Hospital Compare includes information on many important aspects of quality, such as rates of infection and complications, based on survey results.
For more information on local hospital ratings, go to www.medicare.gov/hospitalcompare.
