A Medicare website that compares ratings of hospitals nationwide shows Medical Center Hospital comes up short compared to local competitors Odessa Regional Medical Center and Midland Memorial Hospital.
The ratings range from one to five stars, with five being the best. Medicare’s Hospital Compare website shows MCH has a one-star rating while ORMC and MMH both have three-star ratings, which was about the statewide average.
In Texas, 274 hospitals that were rated scored an average of 3.3 stars for overall quality of care. Thirty-three hospitals received five stars, 84 rated four stars, 105 scored three stars, 43 received two stars and nine had one star, a news release from the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services states.
The Medicare website has overall star ratings to help individuals better understand which hospitals are top performers, which are average and which need improvement, Bob Moos, Southwest regional public affairs officer for CMS, said in the release.
“The ratings reflect such factors as how often patients get infections after surgery, how long patients must wait in the emergency department before seeing a doctor or nurse, and how likely patients are to get readmitted to the hospital after a heart attack,” Moos said in the release.
The stars also take into account the mix of patients at a hospital, so that those facilities with a high percentage of sicker patients aren’t rated lower than those that handle more run-of-the mill cases, the release stated.
In the categories mortality, safety of care, readmission, patient experience, effectiveness of care and timeliness of care, ORMC received ratings that were the same as the national average while MCH received ratings below the national average. ORMC received a rating below the national average in efficient use of medical imaging while MCH received a rating that was the same as the national average, the information shows.
Midland Memorial Hospital scored ratings below the national average in mortality, above the national average in safety of care and readmission, and same as the national average in patient experience effectiveness of care, timeliness of care and efficient use of medical imaging.
Here is a list of some other West Texas hospitals that are rated on the website:
- Abilene — Abilene Regional Medical Center, 3 stars
- Alpine — Big Bend Regional Medical Center, 4 stars
- Amarillo — Baptist St. Anthony’s Hospital, 4 stars
- Amarillo — Northwest Texas Hospital, 2 stars
- Andrews — Permian Regional Medical Center Andrews County Hospital, 3 stars
- Big Spring — Scenic Mountain Medical Center, 2 stars
- Lubbock — Grace Medical Center, 4
- Lubbock — Lubbock Heart Hospital, 4
- Lubbock — University Medical Center, 2
- Lubbock — Covenant Medical Center, 4
- Monahans — Ward Memorial Hospital, 3 stars
- Pecos — Reeves County Hospital District, 3
