TYLER, Texas — **EDITOR'S NOTE: The video above is from Aug. 13, 2021.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) recently released the ratings for hospitals nationwide, including East Texas medical centers.
According to the CMS, the overall star rating for hospitals summarizes quality information on important topics, like readmissions and deaths after heart attacks or pneumonia. The overall rating, between one and five stars, summarizes a variety of measures across seven areas of quality into a single star rating for each hospital.
The seven measure groups include:
- Mortality
- Safety of care
- Readmission
- Patient experience
- Effectiveness of care
- Timeliness of care
- Efficient use of medical imaging
The overall rating shows how well each hospital performed on an identified set of quality measures compared to other hospitals in the U.S. The more stars, the better a hospital performed on the available quality measures. Some new or small hospitals may not report data on all measures, and therefore, aren't eligible for an overall hospital rating.
CLICK HERE for detailed information about the measures included in each measure group.
So, how did the CMS rate local hospitals?
Baylor Scott & White Texas Spine & Joint Hospital (Tyler)
- Overall Star Rating - 5 stars
The University of Texas Health Science Center at Tyler (Tyler)
- Overall Star Rating - 4 stars
CHRISTUS Mother Frances Hospital (Tyler)
- Overall Star Rating - 4 stars
UT Health East Texas (Tyler)
- Overall Star Rating - 3 stars
Longview Regional Medical Center (Longview)
- Overall Star Rating - 3 stars
CHRISTUS Good Shepherd Medical Center (Longview)
- Overall Star Rating - 2 stars
CHI St. Luke's Health Memorial (Lufkin)
- Overall Star Rating - 3 stars
Woodland Heights Medical Center (Lufkin)
- Overall Star Rating - 3 stars
Nacogdoches Medical Center (Nacogdoches)
- Overall Star Rating - 4 stars
Nacogdoches County Hospital (Nacogdoches)
- Overall Star Rating - 3 stars
Palestine Regional Medical Center (Palestine)
- Overall Star Rating - 4 stars
CHRISTUS St. Michael Health System (Texarkana)
- Overall Star Rating - 4 stars
Wadley Regional Medical Center (Texarkana)
- Overall Star Rating - 2 stars
How should you use the hospital star ratings?
The CMS says star ratings can give you information and help you compare hospitals locally and nationwide, but you should consider a variety of factors when choosing a hospital, like physician guidance about your care plan. Along with the overall rating, you should look at other aspects of hospital quality like rates of infection and complications, and patients' experience of care based on survey results.