CMC falls short of 5 stars on hospital grading scale
If you’re feeling under the weather and want to see a doctor at a state-of-the-art Charlotte hospital, there’s a 4-star facility waiting for you in Dilworth.
The feds gave Carolinas Medical Center and eight other hospitals owned by the Carolinas HealthCare System 4 out of 5 stars in a ratings system that helps patients shop around should the worst happen, according to an Observer story by Karen Garloch and Jordan Rau.
Only three hospitals in North Carolina got 5-star ratings: North Carolina Specialty Hospital in Durham, Chatham Hospital in Siler City (in Chatham County) and Firsthealth Moore Regional Hospital in Pinehurst (Moore County).
The scores
Let’s get this out of the way: No Charlotte-area hospital got 5 stars. But hey, there’s a bright side: None of them got 1 star, either.
4-stars: Carolinas Medical Center and CMC-Randolph (Behavior Health), CMC-Pineville, CMC-University, CMC-NorthEast in Concord, CMC-Union in Monroe, CMC-Lincoln in Lincolnton, Cleveland Regional Medical Center in Shelby, Kings Mountain Hospital, and Frye Regional Medical Center and Catawba Valley Medical Center in Hickory.
3-stars: Novant Health Presbyterian Medical Center in Charlotte, Novant Health Huntersville Medical Center, Novant Health Matthews Medical Center, CaroMont Regional Medical Center in Gastonia, Stanly Regional Medical Center in Albemarle, Lake Norman Regional Medical Center in Mooresville, and Iredell Memorial Hospital and Davis Regional Medical Center in Statesville. In South Carolina, Chester Regional Medical Center and Springs Memorial Hospital in Lancaster.
2-stars: Novant Health Rowan Medical Center in Salisbury, Piedmont Medical Center in Rock Hill, S.C.
None got 5 stars?
Before you make a beeline for I-85 and I-40, consider the fact that experts say these ratings might not adequately reflect bedside manner or quality of care at each medical institution. So that doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll walk into a 2-star facility for a tonsillectomy and walk out missing an appendage.
No lie this cafeteria in Carolinas Medical Center just might be my new late dinner spot. Fresh salad bar open 24hrs get well soon G-pa!
— David C. Reynolds (@Aformerfatboy) April 14, 2015
Let’s break this down
(1) Nothing new. Scoring hospitals has been common practice for awhile now. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which doled out the ratings, has been publishing scores from patient satisfaction surveys on its website since 2008. It already uses the star system to score nursing homes, dialysis centers and private Medicare Advantage insurance plans.
(2) The criteria. The ratings are based on 11 different factors in the patient’s experience, including communication from nurses and doctors, how hospital staff treated their pain and how clean and quiet they found their rooms.
(3) Size matters. Some of the hospitals are really small and focus on specialty operations. They tend to get more positive reviews than your traditional, chaotic emergency room rife with misery. And some of the 5-star hospitals are part of well-known systems, such as Mayo Clinic.
(4) Little impact? There’s doubt these ratings will change consumer habits. Evan Marks, an executive at Healthgrades (which also evaluates hospitals), said patients likely won’t flock to a hospital just because its website boasts a lot of stars.
C5’s Take
Rating reports make for good headlines. But often in the end, it’s the reviews you hear from friends and family that make a difference.
This story was originally published April 16, 2015 at 1:44 PM with the headline "CMC falls short of 5 stars on hospital grading scale."