HSCMH receives three of five stars

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services recently released its ratings for Wyoming hospitals through the federal government’s Hospital Compare website, with Hot Springs County Memorial Hospital (HSCMH) receiving three of a possible five stars.Hospital Marketing Director John Gibbel said this is the first time he’s ever seen the star rating. CEO Margie Molitor further explained sometimes hospitals are not big enough to have enough data to get a score. There are 28 hospitals in Wyoming, and of those only 18 had star ratings.

The star rating, Molitor said, is a quick look system that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has come up with for patients to look up and decide where they want to go. There are still arguments, she noted, as to whether the system is fair representation of the quality of care delivered.

For the most part, Molitor said, the hospital is good with having three stars. They have things to work on like every hospital, she added, “but I think for a small critical access hospital to have three stars is a good place to start.”

Gibbel noted most hospitals have only three stars, and the hospital scores ahead of the Wyoming average and national average in many areas. Ratings are based on seven groups of measures including mortality, safety of care, readmission, patient experience, effectiveness of care, timeliness of care and efficient use of medical imaging. Gibbel further noted the information used in scoring the hospitals is from surveys nine months ago.

Molitor said they are happy to participate in the survey, and they want to make sure they’re doing as good as everyone else or better.

Only one hospital in the state — St. John’s Medical Center in Jackson — received the full five stars, six received four stars, eight besides HSCMH received three stars and two received two stars. More information is available at medicare.gov/hospitalcompare/search.html