Fairfield Memorial Hospital seems to continue to defy the odds in quality as they tackle the challenges of delivering care in the current healthcare climate. Despite the challenges, Fairfield Memorial Hospital’s quality continues to rise!
“I am very pleased to share that Fairfield Memorial Hospital has been rated as a four star facility by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. The significance of this particular rating as it pertains to hospitals can be confusing, so we will break this down for you,” stated Katherine Bunting-Williams, Ph.D., FMH CEO.
To begin, the Overall Hospital Quality Star Rating was created to help individuals, their family members, and caregivers compare hospitals in an easily understandable way. Over the past decade, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has published information about the quality of care across the five different health care settings that most families encounter. The new Overall Hospital Quality Star Rating summarizes data from existing quality measures publicly reported on Hospital Compare into a single star rating for each hospital, making it easier for consumers to compare hospitals and interpret complex quality information. This overall rating supplements the star ratings currently posted for hospitals on their patient experience of care data (https://www.medicare.gov/HospitalCompare/Data/Patient-Experience-Domain.html), based on data from the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) Survey.
“Therefore, in short, a hospital’s star qualities can be similarly, but not exactly, compared to the star ratings of a hotel. We may not have all the amenities of a five star hotel, but we offer quality service at its finest. Those who use our services fill out a HCAHPS Survey telling us and CMS how we are doing. Of course, we can’t provide all services a metropolitan hospital can; however, Fairfield Memorial Hospital is a rural facility that offers many of the most crucial services to its community. The stakes are high to meet the needs of each patient with tight resources, but the quality of the services that we provide in our facility are highly rated and will continue with the excellent team of providers we have on staff. Our staff members are our number one driving factor in our quality rating, and it is an honor to be leading a four star facility,” stated Dr. Bunting-Williams.
“Will A. Foster was quoted saying, ‘Quality is never an accident: it is always the result of high intention, sincere effort, intelligent direction and skillful execution: it represents the wise choice of many alternatives.’ This quote, I believe, articulates the extreme hard work, dedication and small town heart that goes into caring for each patient who enters the doors at Fairfield Memorial Hospital,” stated Dr. Bunting-Williams.
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