Most SWFL hospitals earn high marks for patient safety and outcomes
Southwest Florida hospitals maintained or improved ratings by the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid for patient safety, quality and outcomes.
The publicly-operated Lee Health in Lee County with four acute-care hospitals and a combined 1,865 beds saw its ratings improve to the maximum of five stars at HealthPark Medical Center and at Lee Memorial Hospital. Both had four stars last year.
Gulf Coast Medical Center and Cape Coral Hospital maintained their four-star ratings this year.
The overall outcome puts Lee Health in the top 15% of hospitals in the country, according to the system.
Combined patient admissions last year stood at 89,400 and is projected to increase to 89,800 admissions by the end of this year for an average daily census of 1,573 patients.
In Collier County, the private, nonprofit NCH Healthcare System with Baker Hospital and North Naples Hospital kept their four-star rating for the sixth year in a row.
NCH’s two campuses have a combined 713 beds and saw 42,500 admissions with an average daily census of 466 patients.
The Collier-based Physicians Regional Healthcare System with a combined 209 beds at its Physicians Regional at Pine Ridge and at Collier Boulevard received two stars. Last year the system had three stars.
More: Lee Health examines pros and cons of changing to private, nonprofit system
Related: New hospital safety grades are out: How did SWFL hospitals do?
Nationwide 3,076 hospitals were evaluated and rated between one to five stars based on a variety of measures across five key areas, according to CMS. They are mortality, safety, readmission, patient experience, and timely and effective care.
The ratings are designed to give patients information to compare hospitals yet CMS says patients also need to look at other aspects of hospital quality like rates of infection and complications, and patients' experience of care based on survey results.
The CMS ratings is one of handful of hospital evaluations done on a regular basis by organizations that aim to enlighten the public. The scores also prompt hospitals to make improvements when they fall short.
Some of the other hospital ratings are done by Healthgrades, The Leapfrog Group and U.S. News & World Report.
Some new or small hospitals may not report data on all measures, and therefore, aren't eligible for an overall hospital rating by CMS. Children’s hospitals are not rated. Nationwide 1,578 hospitals were not rated.
All Lee Health hospitals in the past six years have seen ratings go up to four and five stars, hospital officials say.
“At Lee Health, we are committed to continuously improving and providing the safest, highest level of patient care possible,” Dr. Larry Antonucci, president and chief executive officer, said in a news release.
“We are proud to be recognized by CMS for the high-quality care we provide to our community, and we are thrilled to have four and five stars this year,” Antonucci said. “I want to thank everyone on the entire Lee Health team for their dedication and commitment to excellent patient care.”
NCH said securing and maintaining a four-star rating is no small feat and reflects the system’s dedication to providing high-quality care.
"We are immensely proud to receive this prestigious recognition from CMS," Paul Hiltz, president and chief executive officer, said in a news release. "This four-star rating reaffirms our dedication to delivering high-quality, patient-centered care to the individuals and families we serve."
NCH’s says its emphasis on continuous improvement and innovative practices has been critical in maintaining its ratings.
"This recognition inspires us to keep pushing boundaries and striving for excellence in all aspects of our operations, and is a testament to the hard work and dedication of our exceptional team of physicians, nurses, and staff who strive every day to deliver the best possible care to our patients,” Dr. Carlos Quintero, chief experience officer, said.
Physicians Regional spokeswoman Brittney Thoman said the system remains focused on providing high quality, compassionate health care.
"Our unwavering commitment to our patients and the community is to continuously improve the care, our readmission rates and patient experience we provide," she said in an email.
Readmission rates are a key measure for patients who have chronic conditions, she said.
"This has been an area of focus for the healthcare system. Our quality measures related to readmission rates are improving. That's real progress and we're going to keep at it," she said.
"In the area of patient experience, we continue to focus on best practices for communication and service including bedside shift report, hourly rounding and rounding by hospital leadership," she added.
What does the national data indicate?
The rating involves 46 quality measures that CMS publicly reports on Medicare.gov and divides them into the five broad groups.
Mortality: Measures how well hospitals prevent deaths.
Safety of Care: Measures how well hospitals prevent infections and other complications.
Readmission: Measures how often patients are readmitted within 30 days.
Patient Experience: Measures how patients rate their care.
Timely & Effective Care: Measures how well hospitals provide care in a timely manner and how well they follow evidence-based guidelines.
A breakdown shows that 250 hospitals, or 5%, received one star; 668 hospitals received two stars for 14% of the rated hospitals and 872 hospitals received three stars for 19%.
Four stars were given to 803 hospitals 17% of the total and 483 received five stars for 10% of the total nationwide.
A hospital may not be able to report data on all measures, due to the number or type of patients they treat. This year 1,578 hospitals were not rated.
The public can look up individual hospitals at the website at https://www.medicare.gov/care-compare/
Besides Lee Health’s two campuses with five stars, 10 other hospitals in Florida are in the top category with five stars, according to Becker’s Health Review.
They are:
Mease Dunedin Hospital (Dunedin)
AdventHealth Daytona Beach (Daytona Beach)
Sarasota Memorial Hospital
Baptist Medical Center - Nassau (Fernandina Beach)
Mayo Clinic Florida (Jacksonville)
Cape Canaveral Hospital (Cocoa Beach)
Morton Plant Mease Healthcare Countryside (Safety Harbor)
Gulf Breeze Hospital (Gulf Breeze)
Viera Hospital (Melbourne)
AdventHealth (Wesley Chapel)
This article originally appeared on Naples Daily News: Feds release hospital ratings, see which ones in SWFL had 4 or 5 stars
