Area hospital ratings run gamut from 2 to 5 stars

Aug. 22—A watchdog group that reviews hospitals so consumers can make good choices for medical care has given an array of ratings to area facilities, ranging from 2 to 5 stars.

The star rating system is administered by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services through its agency, Hospital Compare. Penalties are administered for low ratings by discounting the payments for billed services.

According to CMS, the five measures are mortality, safety, readmission, patient experience, and timely and effective care.

In 2022, in the U.S., CMS rated 3,121 hospitals. Of those, 198 hospitals received one star, 702 garnered two stars, 895 earned three stars, 895 received four stars, and 431 hospitals received five stars.

W.W. Hastings currently has a four-star rating from CMS. Northeastern Health Systems received two stars. Both facilities are based in Tahlequah.

"W.W. Hastings submits data through our vendor, QualityNet, who submits it to CMS quarterly," said Cindy Martin, hospital administrator. "W.W. Hastings Hospital is currently at four stars."

Cherokee Nation broke ground April 6 on a six-story, $400 million hospital to replace the current W.W. Hastings Hospital in Tahlequah. A helipad on the roof will allow expanded services for Cherokee and other tribal citizens. The new facility is expected to have 127 beds, and have a footprint of 400,000 square feet.

The planned hospital will feature two operative suites dedicated to C-sections in the delivery and labor unit, said Martin. A connecting bridge to the existing outpatient health center is designed for safe travel between the two health care facilities.

An emergency department, neonatal care unit, as well as hospice, imaging, a pharmacy, laboratory, and dietary and acute care are all part of the newly designed hospital, said Martin.

The CMS ratings of other hospitals in Northeast Oklahoma varied. Memorial Hospital in Stilwell received a five-star rating, Hillcrest Hospital Pryor was rated four stars, and Wagoner Community Hospital received three stars.

Sequoyah County-City of Sallisaw Hospital Authority entered into partnership with Tahlequah's NHS in 2017. Currently, this hospital has an overall three-star rating.

Saint Francis Hospital South is recognized as number one in the 2022-2023 best rankings by U.S. News and World Report, another agency that reports on the quality of care at hospitals. However, CMS gave Saint Francis South a three-star ranking.

"If we get good ratings, this is something we take to our people and use them to say this is working or this is what we need to improve," said Bob Doucette, spokesperson for Saint Francis Health Systems. "The patient experience drives the reputation of any hospital or clinic."

Projects in the planning stage in Tahlequah, such as offering incentives to companies wishing to locate to the area, or the Heartland Advanced Medical Manufacturing Region Cluster, rely on impact studies to convince companies to settle in the area.

"Quality of life is [among] the top three factors companies look at when they are locating to the area," said Nathan Reed, president of Tahlequah Area Chamber of Commerce. "Health care specifically is not mentioned often when I recruit, but when it is discussed, Tahlequah always impresses prospects with the offerings and certifications for a community our size."

Mark Goodman, a consultant with HAMMRC through the Chamber of Commerce in Fayetteville, uses several data packages to create the results for impact studies.

"The importance of health care and other factors that attract people ... I consider that to be the next generation of economic success," said Goodman.

Leapfrog, an entity that gave NHS a grade of "D," rebutted comments by NHS CEO James Berry for the Friday, Aug. 18 edition of the Daily Press.

Berry had said Leapfrog gives lower scores to hospitals, based on the percentage of registered nurses with bachelor's degrees. But Leah Binder, CEO of the Leapfrog Group, said the grade for NHS had nothing to do with grade levels of nurses.

Another point Binder challenged was Leapfrog's standard measure of an effective intensive care unit equates appropriate treatment as only under the supervision of a critical care specialty physician around the clock, seven days a week.

"It's not 24/7 in the ICU, it is eight hours a day, and can have some credit if they have electronic coverage. [like Telehealth] to connect to staff," said Binder.

Meeting Leapfrog's standard for critical care coverage reduces mortality 40% over a period of 25 years, which increases the odds of surviving if those standards are met, said Binder.

"Leapfrog is not going to forego our standards," said Binder. "I lived in a rural area in Maine, and I can tell you that I expected to get top-quality health care [just] as urban areas do, so same for Oklahoma. You should expect to get the highest standards of quality and standards."

At press time, Berry had not responded to an inquiry about the rebuttal.