44
Where Are CMS' New Overall 5-Star Hospitals?
By Heather Punke
W
hen CMS updated the formula used
in its Overall Hospital Quality Star
Rating program in December 2016,
the number of hospitals that received the high-
est possible overall rating fell from 112 in Octo-
ber to 83 in December.
Even though CMS reported 83 hospitals
received the top ranking in December, the
Hospital Compare spreadsheet shows just
82 hospitals receiving five stars as an overall
quality rating. Becker's is awaiting comment
from CMS about the discrepancy.
Below is a listing of 82 hospitals that received
five stars from CMS in December, broken down
by state, as listed in Hospital Compare.
Alabama
Baptist Medical Center East (Montgomery)
Lakeland Community Hospital (Haleyville)
Marion Regional Medical Center (Hamilton)
Arizona
Banner Heart Hospital (Mesa)
Mayo Clinic Hospital (Phoenix)
Arkansas
Arkansas Surgical Hospital (North Little Rock)
California
Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula
Goleta Valley Cottage Hospital (Santa Barbara)
Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital
Scripps Green Hospital (La Jolla)
Scripps Memorial Hospital La Jolla
Methodist Hospital of Southern California
(Arcadia)
Colorado
Mercy Regional Medical Center (Durango)
Florida
Sarasota Memorial Hospital
Georgia
Gordon Hospital (Calhoun)
Northside Medical Center (Columbus)
Hawaii
Straub Clinic and Hospital (Honolulu)
Idaho
St. Luke's Regional Medical Center (Boise)
Illinois
Advocate Condell Medical Center
(Libertyville)
Advocate Good Shepherd Hospital
(Barrington)
Adventist La Grange Memorial Hospital
Centegra Health System-McHenry Hospital
Riverside Medical Center (Kankakee)
Indiana
Franciscan Health Mooresville
IU Health West Hospital (Avon)
Memorial Hospital and Health Care Center
(Jasper)
Schneck Medical Center (Seymour)
St. Catherine Hospital (East Chicago)
St. Vincent Carmel Hospital
Iowa
Iowa Specialty Hospital-Belmond
Mercy Hospital (Iowa City)
Kansas
Kansas Heart Hospital (Wichita)
Shawnee Mission Medical Center
Louisiana
Willis-Knighton Bossier Health Center (Boss-
ier City)
Maine
Maine Coast Memorial Hospital (Ellsworth)
Massachusetts
New England Baptist Hospital (Boston)
CHS on Track to Overcome Financial Troubles, Says CEO
By Ayla Ellison
F
ranklin, Tenn.-based Community
Health Systems CEO Wayne Smith
has a positive outlook on the com-
pany's future, despite a rocky 2016.
CHS has been through significant
changes in recent years, including the
spinoff of Quorum Health and the ac-
quisition of Naples, Fla.-based Health
Management Associates' 71 hospitals
in 2014. Although CHS expects these
changes to benefit the company in the
long term, they have presented some
challenges in the short term.
Adding to the company's troubles is its
hefty debt load of about $15 billion.
Mr. Smith commented on the company's
troubles at the J.P. Morgan Healthcare
Conference on Jan. 11, 2017. "2016 has
been a difficult year for us, as many of you
all know," he said, according to the Nash-
ville Business Journal. "But we're extreme-
ly positive about our future…We believe
that we're doing the right things."
To improve its finances, CHS put a turn-
around plan into place last year. In an
attempt to trim its debt load, the com-
pany is selling 17 hospitals and other
assets to generate an expected $1.2
billion in working capital. The company
moved forward with that plan in recent
months, divesting several hospitals and
its home health business.
In November 2016, CHS signed a
$425 million definitive agreement to
sell Spokane, Wash.-based Rockwood
Health System to Tacoma, Wash.-based
MultiCare. That transaction is expected
to close in the first quarter of 2017. In De-
cember 2016, CHS signed a definitive
agreement to sell Yakima (Wash.)
Regional Medical Center & Cardiac
Center and Toppenish (Wash.) Com-
munity Hospital to Sunnyside (Wash.)
Community Hospital & Clinics for ap-
proximately $45 million. That deal is
expected to close in the second quarter
of this year. In January 2017, CHS com-
pleted the sale of a majority interest
in CHS Home Health to Louisville, Ky.-
based Almost Family, a provider of
home health nursing services.
"We're on a track to reduce not only
the size of our debt but also to reduce
our [debt to earnings ratio] going for-
ward," Mr. Smith said at the confer-
ence Jan. 11, according to the Nash-
ville Business Journal.
n
