Saint Michael’s Medical Center received four stars from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), which recently updated its Overall Hospital Quality Star Ratings.
Saint Michael’s is the only hospital in Essex County to receive four stars from CMS, the federal agency that that runs the Medicare program. Only 15 hospitals in New Jersey received a four- or five-star rating from CMS. The rankings for all hospitals can be found on the CMS Care Compare website.
“I am incredibly proud of our dedicated team for achieving this prestigious recognition from CMS,” said Saint Michael’s CEO Alan Sickles, MD. “This achievement reflects our unwavering commitment to providing exceptional healthcare services to our community. We will continue to strive for excellence and uphold the highest standards of patient care, ensuring that every individual who walks through our doors receives the best medical treatment available in this community. Our focus is on quality of care, the patient experience and staff engagement.”
CMS assigns star ratings to hospitals across the nation based on 46 hospital quality measures divided into five categories: safety of care, readmission, mortality, patient experience and timely and effective care.
Although the tool was created for people with Medicare, many of the measures of the Overall Hospital Quality Star Rating program apply to people who do not have Medicare. The star ratings make it easier for consumers to choose a hospital and understand the quality of care they deliver, according to CMS.
Saint Michael’s is also the only hospital in Essex County to receive an A for patient safety from the Leapfrog Group and an A for social responsibility from the Lown Institute. In addition, Saint Michael’s is also the only hospital in Essex County to receive the 2023 Patient Safety Excellence Award from Healthgrades, placing it among the top 5% of all short-term acute care hospitals in the nation.