One of the best indicators of a hospital’s safety and quality is the Medicare Quality Rating System. This system uses a simple five-star format to help consumers choose facilities with the highest quality care and Medicare encourages consumers to use its hospital compare website as a starting point for making decisions about their care.
In Medicare’s most recent data release, in January, 2020, Mercy received a five-star rating, the only hospital in the Four Corners to earn it.
More impressively, this marks Mercy’s fifth consecutive rating at five stars since Medicare began releasing data in July of 2016.
While it may appear an easy achievement due to Mercy’s consistency, on average, less than 10 percent of U.S. hospitals receive a five-star rating, and an even smaller percentage have received the five-star rating multiple times in a row.
After reading the recent article “Medicare penalizes Mercy Regional Medical Center for post-care complications” (Feb. 6) we wanted our community to know about our consistent high-quality rankings.
Refencing the Kaiser Health News report, over the last two years every hospital in Colorado has received a penalty from Medicare. In 2020, of the 23 hospitals reviewed by Medicare, 16 received a penalty.
We can’t speak for other hospitals, but for Mercy, our caregivers stay current with treatment recommendations, we are focused, and we work well with each other to provide the highest quality care. This keeps us at the top of the Medicare Quality Ratings for the Durango community.
Kim Furry, MDCentura Health – Mercy Regional Medical Center
