Care Compare Awards Mat-Su Regional 4 Stars for quality care

Care Compare, the consumer-oriented website that provides information on the quality of care at hospitals, awarded Mat-Su Regional Medical Center four stars for overall quality in its updated ratings, April 28.

The star rating is a scale of one to five, with five being best. Care Compare is sponsored by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and rates nearly 3,500 hospitals. There are five quality areas measured in the overall rating, including mortality, safety, readmissions, patient experience, and timely and effective care. Mat-Su Regional is the only hospital in the greater-Anchorage area to earn a four-star rating.

The CMS four-star rating dovetails with accolades Mat-Su Regional earned the same week from the Leapfrog Group – another consumer watchdog focusing on patient safety at hospitals. In its annual Hospital Safety Grade report, Leapfrog awarded Mat-Su Regional an ‘A’ for patient safety.

As with the CMS ranking, Mat-Su Regional received a higher rating from Leapfrog than other Anchorage-area hospitals.

“The recognition we received from both of these organizations validates the emphasis we place on patient safety and quality care,” said Dave Wallace, Mat-Su Regional’s chief executive officer.

“Even more than receiving national accolades, our culture of safety makes a tangible difference in people’s lives,” Wallace said. “Through the daily application of evidence-based protocols and best practices we increase healthy outcomes for our patients. What this represents to our community is that patients can trust us to provide exceptional care when they need our services.”

“We’re excited to receive a four-star rating from CMS on the heels of earning the Leapfrog Grade A,” added Jen Moore, the hospital’s chief quality officer. Moore said Mat-Su Regional has earned a number of quality awards and accreditations over the past several years, including being the first hospital in Alaska to be accredited as a chest pain center by the American College of Cardiology. “This focuses on our ability to provide care for acute coronary patients,” she said.

Moore said another notable accomplishment was earning the Alaska State Hospital and Nursing Home Association’s top patient safety award in 2019: High Reliability: Persevering in the Pursuit of Zero Patient Harm. Moore said the hospital received this award for “our vigilance in developing a culture of safety and error prevention.”

“Our staff and medical providers work diligently day in and day out to continue to improve quality across the hospital,” Moore said. “It really is what we focus on every day.”

Mat-Su Regional Medical Center is a 125-bed healthcare facility providing advanced surgical service, including robotic-assisted partial and total knee and total hip replacement, cardiac care, emergency services, diagnostic imaging, sleep studies, inpatient behavioral health, advanced wound care, three urgent care centers, and is home to the Family Birthing Center. To learn more about Mat-Su Regional, go to MatSuRegional.com.