Sarasota Memorial Hospital named Top 100, awarded five stars

If hospitals could receive grade school report cards, Sarasota Memorial Hospital would again receive an A. 

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) began rating the nation’s hospitals on a Five-Star Quality Rating System in 2016. Since then, SMH has consistently been awarded five stars for overall quality and safety. 

The star ratings are designed to make it easier for patients to compare how well community hospitals perform. 

Comparisons are made based on patient experience, effectiveness of care and complication rates. Over 50 quality measures are broken down to come up with the overall star rating, giving the most weight to factors such as patient safety, experience and amount of unexpected deaths. 

Out of 3,724 U.S. hospitals evaluated, 52 earned the highest rating. 

In addition to being awarded five stars, SMH was named one of the 100 Top Hospitals by IBM Watson Health. 

The top 100 was chosen from a list of 2,752 hospitals across the U.S. that outperformed peer-group hospitals on clinical and operational performance benchmarks. 

Conducted annually since 1993, inpatient mortality, readmission rates, cost of care and patient satisfaction are just some of the factors evaluated. 

“From our unpaid Hospital Board to our front-line staff, physicians, volunteers and leaders, there’s a strong sense of community and responsibility that drives everything we do,” SMH CEO David Verinder said in a statement. “This award is a reflection of the entire team’s dedication to providing the highest quality care to the community and people we serve.”

This is the fourth time SMH has received this award. It was the only hospital in southwest Florida, and one of nine in the state, to make the 2019 list.