Samaritan Hospitals Earn Four Stars for Quality Care April 2, 2019 The federal government has given four out of five stars to Samaritan-affiliated hospitals in each of the three counties (Benton, Lincoln and Linn) in the organization’s service area. Samaritan North Lincoln Hospital, Good Samaritan Regional Medical Center and Samaritan Albany General Hospital were notified of the ratings earlier this month from the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. The CMS five-star rating system for hospitals is based on performance in seven categories: Mortality. Safety of care. Re-admissions. Patient experience. Effectiveness of care. Timeliness of care. Efficient use of medical imaging. Within these categories, all five Samaritan-affiliated hospitals did better than the national average in re-admissions. Samaritan North Lincoln exceeded in patient experience and timeliness of care, Samaritan Albany exceeded in timeliness of care and Good Samaritan exceeded in safety of care. Good Samaritan Regional Medical Center was the largest hospital in the Willamette Valley to earn a four-star rating. The hospital also did significantly better than the national rate of re-admissions for pneumonia: It was the only hospital in Oregon and one of only 61 nationwide to achieve this. Samaritan North Lincoln also earned a five-star rating in Patient Experience based on random patient surveys through the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems Survey. Samaritan Lebanon Community Hospital and Samaritan Pacific Communities Hospital retained their three-star CMS ratings from 2018. They also exceeded the national average in timeliness of care. Of the 4,573 hospitals rated by CMS, six percent currently hold five-star ratings, 23 percent hold four stars, 27 percent hold three stars, 17 percent hold two stars and 6 percent hold one star. “These outstanding results reflect the sustained, focused effort we are making to strengthen our performance in ways that are visible to the public and that compare favorably to hospitals in Oregon and nation-wide,” said Doug Boysen, president and CEO of Samaritan Health Services. “These ratings are a reflection of the things our staff does – great and small – every day to deliver exemplary care to our patients,” Boysen continued. “I have the privilege of hearing some of those stories through letters and conversations with patients and families, and I am so pleased to see that these efforts are being recognized in this tangible way.” Learn more about Samaritan’s quality and safety priorities.
