Just 45 hospitals have earned the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ highest 5-Star rating for overall quality and safety since its inception. The federal government released new report cards for the nation’s hospitals this week, and Sarasota Memorial is the only hospital in the region to receive the top 5-star quality rating for overall performance. SMH is the only hospital in Florida — and one of just 45 across the nation — to earn the highest possible rating from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) in every reporting period since the program began in 2016. Of 4,586 U.S. hospitals evaluated, less than 9 percent earned the five-star rating in the January 2020 update posted this week on CMS’ Hospital Compare website. As in previous years, most hospitals received two, three or four stars. CMS’ star ratings are based on performance across seven quality areas: mortality, safety, readmissions, patient experience, effectiveness of care, timeliness of care and efficient use of medical imaging. The first four areas having the greatest weight.

View a full list of hospitals and ratings here