With “report cards” recently issued for the nation’s hospitals, Sarasota Memorial Hospital again received the highest rating, 5 stars — the only hospital in Florida to achieve that mark and one of just 52 across the nation to earn it, the hospital has announced.
Sarasota Memorial Hospital (SMH) has earned 5 stars for the fifth consecutive rating period since the star program was launched in 2016, a news release explains.
Of the 3,742 hospitals evaluated, less than 8% earned the federal government’s highest rating in the February update on the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Hospital Compare website, the release adds. As in previous years, the release notes, most hospitals received two, three or four stars.
“Since 2016, the federal agency has shared star ratings to make it easier for people to compare how well their community hospitals perform on a range of inpatient and outpatient quality indicators,” the release explains. “Comparisons are made based on patient experience, the timeliness and effectiveness of care, complication rates, and other factors,” the release adds. “Information is also organized by medical condition, such as heart attack, pneumonia, or type of surgery.” Hospital Compare then distills more than 50 quality measures into an overall star rating, giving the most weight to factors such as patient safety, patient experience, the rates of unnecessary patient readmissions and rates of unexpected patient deaths, the release says.
Sarasota Memorial — 5 stars.
Doctor’s Hospital — 4 stars.
Lakewood Ranch — 3 stars.
Englewood Community — 3 stars.
Fawcett Memorial — 3 stars.
DeSoto Memorial — 3 stars.
Blake Medical Center — 2 stars.
Bayfront Health Punta Gorda — 2 stars.
Bayfront Health Port Charlotte — 1 star.
Venice Regional Bayfront Health — 1 star.
For more information, visit https://www.medicare.gov/hospitalcompare.