Altru Health System receives four-star rating from Medicare, Medicaid
Jul. 28—GRAND FORKS — As Altru Health System continues preparation to move into a new $475 million hospital, it has received major national recognition for its quality of care.
On Thursday, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), announced Altru has been named a four-star hospital — up from three stars the last two years and placing Altru in the top 25% of hospitals in the nation, according to CEO Todd Forkel.
"We want to commend our employees and physicians for the work they did to get to this point," Forkel said. "Also, for those we serve, this demonstrates our level of commitment to maintaining a consistent, quality patient experience."
Dr. Joshua Deere, president of Altru, said the CMS ranks hospitals based on 47 metrics pertaining to quality, safety and experience. These include mortality rates from heart attacks and strokes, readmission rates, timeliness of care and overall patient satisfaction.
Deere said the CMS rankings are an effective tool to compare hospitals on a standardized scale.
"It's really a way for every hospital to be compared to each other, with similar types of patient data," he said.
Forkel also said the award highlights Altru's status as a "medical destination where you can get high quality care close to home." However, he believes an even more significant factor behind Altru's climb in the rankings over the past few years is its provider-to-patient relationships.
"The day-to-day interactions we have with our patients really drive people to feel comfortable with their providers and our staff," he said. "If you have a great experience, that's what brings people back."
Looking ahead, Deere added that Altru's new hospital — which is approximately 60% complete — will help as Altru strives to reach its goal of a five-star CMS ranking.
"We can pause to celebrate the four-star rating, but obviously, our journey doesn't end here," he said. "We're going to have a five-star hospital that we're all really proud of, and is something that everyone in the community will be able to use and benefit from. We want our quality to match."
In March, Forkel and Deere told the Herald that increasing the annual score from CMS is an important goal for the hospital and its staff.
Forkel characterized the rankings this way: Systems that earn three stars are in the middle of the rankings, those with four stars are in the upper 25% and those with five stars are the top 10%.
"Our north star goal is our five-star journey," Forkel said at the time. "We have internalized with our teams to just rally around (the idea that) we're going to be a five-star before we get into that building. There are a lot of levels that go into it — patient experience, clinical quality, mortality rates. Medicare also throws in an efficiency score, which is really cost of care."
In that March interview, Forkel credited Deere.
"Dr. Deere really heads a lot of those efforts and I give him a lot of credit for how the needle has moved with our teams on that," Forkel said.
Altru's new hospital is just north of its current facility and is expected to be generally completed next year, with patients being accepted beginning in early 2025.
