Cedars-Sinai Again Earns Five-Star Rating From Federal Agency
For Fifth Year in a Row, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center Receives Highest Distinction
Cedars-Sinai Medical Center again has earned a five-star hospital rating from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS)—the highest distinction from the federal agency. This is the fifth year in a row that the academic medical center has been rated among the hospitals providing patients with the highest quality care in the nation.
Of the 3,121 U.S. hospitals rated, only about 14% earned five stars. The ratings are based on 46 quality measurements from five categories: mortality, safety, readmissions after treatment of common conditions, patient experience, and timely and effective care.
Found on Medicare's Care Compare website, the ratings of one to five stars provide consumers with a simple way to compare hospitals' quality and performance.
This year’s rating for Cedars-Sinai was driven once again by strong performance in mortality measures that track the rate of patient survival 30 days after hospitalization for common conditions such as heart failure, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and stroke. Since CMS began tracking this data, the medical center’s mortality rates have remained among the lowest in the U.S.
Cedars-Sinai also received high marks in two cancer care measures—emergency department visits and hospital admissions after outpatient chemotherapy. “We proactively coordinate care for our oncology patients to ensure they have access to the services they need, which helps prevent avoidable trips to the hospital,” said Sharon Isonaka, MD, chief value officer and vice president of Clinical Efficiency and Value at Cedars-Sinai.
Isonaka said Cedars-Sinai also is creating new programs to ease transitions of care from the medical center back to care at home. Patients need a lot of education and reinforcement, she explained, and this extra coordination among medical providers has been shown to reduce the risk of being readmitted to the hospital.
“Cedars-Sinai has been launching new, enhanced services for its Medicare population to fill a gap for patients who need help navigating the healthcare system after leaving the hospital,” Isonaka said. “We want to ensure that older adults being discharged after an elective surgery or those receiving treatment for a serious chronic illness get the care and the support they need when they return home.”
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