NY hospitals' quality ratings lag national trends. Check your local hospital

David Robinson, New York State Team
·4 min read

New York hospitals received mixed rankings in the latest federal quality rating reports, as the state’s health system overall underperformed national averages.

Only 11 hospitals in New York received the top 5-stars rating, according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services rankings. That reflects about 8% of the state’s eligible hospitals, as compared to about 15% of hospitals nationally that got the top score.

Rochester General Hospital's main entrance is on Portland Street in Rochester, Dec. 8, 2020.
Rochester General Hospital's main entrance is on Portland Street in Rochester, Dec. 8, 2020.

The rating system analyzes quality information on important health care topics, like readmissions and deaths after heart attacks or pneumonia.

The overall rating — between 1 and 5 stars — summarizes a variety of measures across five areas of quality. The measure groups include mortality, safety of care, readmission, patient experience, and timely and effective care.

How NY hospital ratings compared to U.S.

In New York, 25 hospitals got the lowest 1-star rating. That reflects about 18% of eligible hospitals statewide, as compared to the national tally of 8%.

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A total of 19 hospitals in New York received 4-star ratings, while another 35 received 3 stars and 48 got 2-star ratings. All these results fell short of trend lines across the country, the data show.

A Metro North train passes between the De Laval site, Vassar Brothers Medical Center and Hudson Pointe in the City of Poughkeepsie on November 28, 2022.
A Metro North train passes between the De Laval site, Vassar Brothers Medical Center and Hudson Pointe in the City of Poughkeepsie on November 28, 2022.

What goes into the national rankings?

The federal quality ratings, which are updated each July, continued a years-long pattern of New York’s health system receiving subpar rankings, despite spending more than other states on health care.

Potential reasons for the poor ratings include limited state fines imposed on hospitals that put patients at risk, as well as some hospitals’ failures to implement best practices, according to a study by the New York Public Interest Research Group, a consumer watchdog.

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Hospital trade groups, however, have disputed many of the rankings, citing a lack of uniform standards as well as varying timeframes for data reviews that failed to account for the complexities of health care delivery.

While the differences between various safety and quality rankings are connected to the scoring measures used, experts say patients should try to be aware of the results in each respective system because they focus on a variety of important issues.

NY’s hospital quality ratings

Many of the hospitals across the Finger Lakes, Hudson Valley, Southern Tier and Mohawk Valley saw their quality ratings improve or drop in the latest ratings.

Some hospitals weren't rated because they were not included in the review, which excludes facilities based on several reasons, including a lack of sufficient data reported to regulators.

Finger Lakes

  • F.F. Thompson Hospital in Canandaigua: 2

  • Finger Lakes Health-Geneva General Hospital: 1

  • Highland Hospital: 2

  • Newark-Wayne Community Hospital: 3

  • Rochester General Hospital: 1

  • Strong Memorial Hospital: 2

  • Unity Hospital in Rochester: 2

  • Wyoming County Community Hospital: 2

The emergency department entrance to Strong Memorial Hospital is located on Elmwood Ave. in Rochester, NY.
The emergency department entrance to Strong Memorial Hospital is located on Elmwood Ave. in Rochester, NY.

Hudson Valley

  • Bon Secours Community Hospital in Port Jervis : 3

  • Columbia Memorial Hospital in Hudson: 1

  • Garnet Health Medical Center in Middletown: 4

  • Good Samaritan Hospital of Suffern: 3

  • HealthAlliance Hospital Mary’s Avenue Campus in Kingston: 2

  • Hudson Valley Hospital Center in Cortlandt Manor: 4

  • Montefiore New Rochelle Hospital: 2

  • Northern Dutchess Hospital in Rhinebeck: 4

  • Northern Westchester Hospital in Mount Kisco: 4

  • Nyack Hospital: 2

  • Putnam Hospital Center in Carmel: 3

  • St. Anthony Community Hospital in Warwick: 5

  • St. Joseph’s Medical Center in Yonkers: 1

  • St. Luke’s Cornwall in Newburgh: 3

  • Vassar Brothers Medical Center in Poughkeepsie: 3

  • Westchester Medical Center in Valhalla: 1

  • White Plains Hospital Center: 5

Southern Tier

  • Arnot Ogden Medical Center in Elmira: 2

  • Cayuga Medical Center at Ithaca: 4

  • Corning Hospital: 3

  • Phelps Memorial Hospital in Sleepy Hollow: 3

  • Guthrie Cortland Regional Medical Center: 3

  • St. James Mercy Hospital in Hornell: 3

  • St. John’s Riverside Hospital in Yonkers: 3

  • Our Lady of Lourdes Memorial Hospital in Binghamton: 3

  • United Health Services Hospitals in Binghamton: 2

Mohawk Valley

  • Faxton St.-Luke’s Healthcare in New Hartford: 2

  • Little Falls Hospital: 3

  • Oneida Health Hospital: 3

  • Rome Memorial Hospital: 2

  • St. Elizabeth Medical Center in Utica: 2

For further details about federal quality ratings for New York hospitals, visit the system's website at CMS.gov.

This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: New York hospitals' quality ratings are in: How did your hospital do?