Patients using national quality scores to make health care-related decisions have new data to consider. In its most recent Hospital Quality Star Ratings for 2021, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) awarded VCU Medical Center and VCU Health Tappahannock Hospital 4-out-of-5 stars, and VCU Health Community Memorial Hospital earned three stars.

CMS star ratings are based on evaluating hospitals nationwide for their inpatient care and comparing data on mortality and readmissions; safety, effectiveness and timeliness of care; and patient experience. The intent is to help patients, their families and caregivers compare hospitals more easily. 30% of the hospitals in America achieved a four-star rating this year; 29% received three stars. In prior rankings, VCU Medical Center and VCU Health Tappahannock Hospital received 3-out-of-5 stars.

“Behind every public recognition is our unwavering commitment to do right by our patients and deliver unfailingly kind, high quality care and the best patient experience,” said Art Kellerman, M.D., senior vice president for Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) Health Sciences and CEO of VCU Health System. “We are proud to provide a full range of services to anyone who walks through our doors, and we are among a select group of health systems to do this. Our 13,000 team members embody our vision to become the safest health system in the country, and that is reflected in the work we do each and every day for our patients across the commonwealth.”

As a major academic health system, VCU Health regularly provides feedback to rating organizations to improve how well their scores represent the complexity of care only academic health care organizations can provide, among others. “Our goal is to create meaningful measures that help patients find the care they are looking for and provide valuable data for our hospitals to guide internal improvement,” said Ron Clark, M.D., interim CEO of VCU Hospitals and Clinics. “We strongly encourage patients to look at all information available, as well as talking with family, friends and their health care provider when making their health care decisions.”

The federal CMS star ratings are the latest in a series of recognitions for the quality and safety of care VCU Health provides at its Richmond, South Hill and Tappahannock locations, including

• U.S. News & World Report ranked two specialty care programs at VCU Medical Center — cardiology & heart surgery and urology – among the best in the country in its 2021 “Best Hospitals” rankings.
• The Leapfrog Group, a nonprofit patient safety watchdog organization, recently awarded VCU Health at Tappahannock Hospital an ‘A’ grade for safety, the highest possible grade.
• VCU Medical Center achieved Magnet® status for the fourth consecutive time in 2020. Only 8 percent of all registered hospitals in the U.S. hold Magnet® designations, the highest honor in nursing.
• The American Heart Association and American Stroke Association awarded VCU Medical Center and VCU Health Community Memorial Hospital a GOLD PLUS Quality Achievement Award for its 2020 stroke program, recognizing the exceptional treatment of stroke patients based on the latest scientific evidence.
• Earlier this year, VCU Health’s Evans-Haynes Burn Center was re-verified by the American Burn Association. The first civilian burn center established in the United States (1947), it is the only nationally-verified adult and pediatric burn center in the state of Virginia.

Speaking on behalf of VCU Health Community Memorial Hospital, CEO Scott Burnette said, “We [VCU Health Community Memorial Hospital] have grown our services exponentially since our affiliation with VCU Health System in 2014. As an organization, VCU Health brings so much collaboration and clinical specialization to augment VCU Health Community Memorial Hospital’s long history of providing community health care, which has a dramatic impact on patient care. We are proud of our outstanding team at CMH and the awards we have earned and proud to be part of the VCU Health team. We truly are better together."

Speaking on behalf of VCU Tappahannock CEO Liz Martin said, "We take great pride in receiving high marks from external agencies like CMS. Striving to exceed the highest standards of safety and quality is an important part of how we meet our mission. However, nothing is as important as earning the trust of our patients and families through every interaction. As we join the VCU Health family, we are bolstered by an innovative and talented team that will help us do that even better in the coming years.”