Hospital ranks in top 2.2% for quality and safety

SARASOTA — In the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services' (CMS) first-ever five-star rating for overall quality and safety, Sarasota Memorial Health Care System ranked in the top 2.2%.

Just 102 of the 4,599 hospitals evaluated received five stars, and Sarasota Memorial was one of them, a statement says. The most commonly earned ranking — achieved by 1,770 of the 4,599 hospitals — was three stars.

CMS, the federal agency that oversees Medicare and Medicaid, posted the ratings to its Hospital Compare website to help consumers compare hospital quality. Up to 64 quality measures were placed into an overall star rating, giving the most weight to four factors: patient safety, patient experience, the rates of unnecessary patient re-admissions and the rates of unexpected patient deaths.

“There are many factors that influence hospital quality, but none more important than helping people not only survive the event that brought them to your hospital, but to return home and continue to thrive,” Steve Taylor, chief medical officer for Sarasota Memorial, says in the statement.

Prior to the five-star rating system, CMS's only existing quality rating system on Hospital Compare weighed more than 100 measures. That system still exists.

Sarasota Memorial Health Care System has more than 900,000 patient visits each year. Its flagship hospital, Sarasota Memorial, is an 819-bed acute care facility.