LOS ANGELES (Sept. 24, 2024) — Cedars-Sinai Medical Center again has earned a five-star hospital rating from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS)—the highest distinction from the federal agency. This is the seventh straight time that Cedars-Sinai has been rated among the hospitals providing patients with the highest-quality care in the nation.
Published on Medicare’s Care Compare website, the ratings of one to five stars provide patients with a reliable way to compare hospitals’ quality and performance. The ratings are based on 46 quality measurements from five categories: mortality, safety, readmissions after treatment of common conditions, patient experience, and timely and effective care.
Of the 2,847 U.S. hospitals rated, fewer than 14% earned five stars.
This year’s rating for Cedars-Sinai was driven by strong performance in mortality measures that track the rate of patient survival 30 days after hospitalization for common medical conditions. Since CMS began tracking this data, the academic medical center’s mortality rates have remained among the best in the U.S. for patients being treated for conditions including:
- Heart failure
- Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
- Stroke
Cedars-Sinai also achieved a high rate of patient survival 30 days after hospitalization for treatment of heart attack or pneumonia.
The medical center likewise received high marks for reducing unnecessary readmissions among patients who had recently been in the hospital for common conditions and surgeries. These results are thanks to a major effort by Cedars-Sinai to help Medicare patients safely return back home after a hospital stay for a surgery, such as a hip replacement, or a medical condition, like heart failure.
“We put programs in place across the medical center that anticipate the common reasons for readmissions, proactively address these issues and ensure patients experience smooth transitions back to their life at home,” said Sharon Isonaka, MD, chief value officer and vice president of Clinical Efficiency and Value at Cedars-Sinai, which is the largest Medicare provider in California.
Depending on a Medicare patient’s medical condition and risk factors, Cedars-Sinai can provide extra support in a variety of ways. Staff members can schedule follow-up appointments for a patient before they leave the hospital. A care manager can call a patient soon after discharge to make sure they have everything they need to heal, troubleshooting any hurdles.
Taking the right medications the right way after a hospital stay can play a big role in determining an older patient’s ability to recover. Many older adults already take a long list of medications even before they arrive at a hospital for surgery or to treat a chronic issue. A Cedars-Sinai pharmacist can call these patients when they return home to review their updated list with them and ensure they understand when and how to take each medication.
The common thread with all of these tactics is taking a broader view of patients’ health, Isonaka said. Older adults, in particular, often have needs that stretch beyond the one thing that brought them to the hospital.
“If someone comes in for hip surgery and they have heart failure, we want to make sure that patient returns home still taking their heart failure medication,” Isonaka said. “We want to look beyond the condition that brought the patient in to ensure that they go home with their chronic health condition in the same state that it was before surgery.”
Thanks in part to these efforts, the overall readmission rate for all patients at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center dropped from 13.9% in 2019 to 11.5% in 2023. Initiatives to reduce readmissions among Medicare patients have been so successful, Cedars-Sinai is rolling out new similar programs in specialty areas including GI surgery and minimally invasive heart procedures.
“Readmissions are such an important measure of quality,” Isonaka said. “Anytime you can keep people healthy and in their own home, that’s a major success.”
Read more on the Cedars-Sinai Blog: Why You Should Consider Magnet Recognition in Your Care
