From: mha23x@gmail.com   
      
   Federal government now rates hospitals like hotels   
      
   BY ANDREA RAMEY   
   THURSDAY, JULY 28TH 2016   
   hospitals.JPG   
   The rankings are determined by 64 different quality measures hospitals report   
   to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.   
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   MOBILE, Ala. (WPMI) For the first time, the federal government is releasing   
   hospital quality ratings. Thousands of hospitals nationwide are now given a   
   one through five star rating, with five being the best. Several hospitals in   
   our area received below    
   average scores.   
      
   Three major hospitals in Mobile - Providence Hospital, Mobile Infirmary, and   
   Springhill Memorial - all received a two star ranking by the federal   
   government this week.   
      
   "It's like wow, not even a three?" said Mobile County resident Cheryl Ross.   
      
   We shared the findings at a local senior center. Ross learned she had surgery   
   last year at a two star rated hospital.   
      
   "If I had known that at that point, I might have talked to my doctor and asked   
   him are there any that are ranked higher," said Ross.   
      
   Thomas Hospital was the highest rated in Mobile and Baldwin County with four   
   stars. USA Medical Center received three stars. USA Children's and Women's was   
   not ranked due to "too few measures... reported to calculate a star rating."   
      
   "It really is hard to boil something down to five stars," said Alabama   
   Hospital Association Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer   
   Rosemary Blackmon.   
      
   The Alabama Hospital Association joins a growing list of critics nationwide of   
   the new system. Many saying the rankings do not take into account hospitals   
   which serve poorer and sicker populations.   
      
   "Our concern is that consumers will get used to looking at this like they do   
   Trip Advisor for a hotel, and it's just not that easy when it's your life,"   
   said Blackmon.   
      
   The rankings are determined by 64 different quality measures hospitals report   
   to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, like death and infection   
   rates, readmissions and patient experience.   
      
   "From now on, if we have other kinds of major surgeries that's going to be a   
   question in the back of the whole planning process," said Ross.   
      
   In a statement, Mobile Infirmary said in part "in many of our measures,   
   Infirmary Health hospitals meet and exceed national standards."   
      
   If you would like to review the data, click here: https://data.m   
   dicare.gov/Hospital-Compare/Hospital-General-Information/xubh-q36u   
       
      
      
   http://local15tv.com/news/local/federal-government-now-rated-hos   
   itals-like-hotels   
      
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    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)