Five Stars for TidalHealth Nanticoke
SEAFORD, Del. – Penny Short, president of TidalHealth Nanticoke, spoke with WMDT about what it takes to turn healthcare into a five-star experience in this week’s Health Beat, sponsored by TidalHealth.
TidalHealth Nanticoke is celebrating a five-star award, received from the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). Only 291 out of 4600 eligible hospitals received the honor. The award seeks to highlight hospitals that are going above and beyond to provide healthcare to their market.
One aspect recognized patient experience.
“All the surveys that you would get from after you’ve been into the hospital, that goes into that patient experience score,” says Short. “Then mortality — you’re looking at patients coming in with heart attack or stroke or pneumonia, [and] they really do measure a hospital.” The survivability of the patients that come in with many of those diagnoses also plays a factor in a hospital’s rating.
“They’re looking at hospitals and measuring them for bloodstream infections, catheter infections, and then comparing the hospitals in that respect and then readmissions.” Short elaborated, saying, “When they’re [in] hospital, you send them home at the right time because you don’t want them coming back into the hospital within that 30 day time period.” This is because readmission is another factor that CMS tracks.
To accurately track hospital data, CMS takes all the patients that have received benefits from both Medicare and Medicaid and uses the data on claims that are filed.
But Short wants patients to know that it isn’t just about accolades.
“The quality we provide to the patients, it’s not about the awards, it’s the work that we do every day. And really across the system, our focus is for high quality standardization and really making sure we provide the best care possible every single day,” she said. “Being only 291 hospitals that have received five stars out of 4600, you know, makes you really proud because you know that the team’s effort is being recognized. And even more importantly, it’s the patients’ outcomes that we’ve been able to make a difference in.”
For more information about TidalHealth Nanticoke, click here.
