CRMC Tennessee's "safest hospital" (Memphis, Knoxville: health insurance, university, live)

[JMT]

A federal bureau has ranked Cookeville Regional Medical Center as the safest hospital in Tennessee and one of the 25 safest in the country.

“We’re the safest facility in the state of Tennessee,” said Paul Korth, CRMC CEO, during his presentation to the hospital’s board of trustees Thursday evening.

Data for that ranking was compiled by CMS, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, using patient outcomes. CMS is part of the [Federal] Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and administers a variety of programs including: Medicare, Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), and the Health Insurance Marketplace.

“We just found out this week,” Korth said. “Out of the 91 hospitals in the state, we rank number one in patient safety (and) safety outcomes.”

CRMC ranks among the top 25 in the nation for safety, he added.

Here are some 2017 Statistics for Cookeville Regional Medical Center:

• 8,049 surgeries
• 3,954 heart procedures
• 162,392 outpatient visits
• 12,893 inpatient admissions
• 1,504 newborn babies
• 52,503 emergency room visits
• $26.7 million in charity/uncompensated care
• 195 doctors
• 2,214 employees
• 169 volunteers
• $118 million payroll

CRMC named Tennessee

[JMT]

More info in today's H-C about this latest accolade for Cookeville Regional Medical Center.

Side note: my mother recently moved from Knoxville to Cookeville. Her doctor in Knoxville was affiliated with U.T. Medical Center. She had to have surgery on her throat, and her Knoxville doctor said they couldn't do it at UTMC and would need to send her to Duke University in North Carolina. She opted not to have the surgery. After moving to Cookeville, on a lark she asked a local doctor if he could perform the surgery. He did, and everything went smoothly; there was absolutely no need to send her to Duke (?!) for the surgery. She had a wonderful experience at CRMC.

CRMC rated top hospital in state in patient safety | Herald Citizen

[Chas863]

"Patient safety" doesn't mean what a lot of people may think it means. It doesn't mean that your surgery or operation of some kind is going to be more successful there or that you have a better chance of having a desired surgical outcome at CRMC. It refers basically to certain childbirth procedures and the risk of contracting some infection during your stay in the hospital. From the link you posted:

"The safety features considered include the number of early elective deliveries, the number of hospital acquired infections, surgical site infections, MRSA and C-diff cases."

[JMT]

Originally Posted by Chas863

"Patient safety" doesn't mean what a lot of people may think it means. It doesn't mean that your surgery or operation of some kind is going to be more successful there or that you have a better chance of having a desired surgical outcome at CRMC. It refers basically to certain childbirth procedures and the risk of contracting some infection during your stay in the hospital. From the link you posted:

"The safety features considered include the number of early elective deliveries, the number of hospital acquired infections, surgical site infections, MRSA and C-diff cases."

Oh, I think coming out of surgery with a lower risk of surgical site infections is absolutely a desired surgical outcome. The CDC says about 75,000 Americans die each year because of hospital-acquired infections, and there are about 722,000 annual occurrences of hospital-acquired infections.

I'm glad to have a hospital in Cookeville with such a low risk of exposure to HAIs, particularly since CRMC is seeing such a high number of surgeries and birthings.

[Chas863]

Certainly no one wants to have a post surgical infection, but tallying up which hospital does best in the prevention of post surgical infections says nothing about which hospital ranks the highest in the successful performance of their surgeries.

That's like judging which auto repair shop in town does the best engine overhaul by rating how clean the car is when they deliver it to you. You might have a spotless car, but still have an engine that won't run.

[JMT]

Originally Posted by Chas863

Certainly no one wants to have a post surgical infection, but tallying up which hospital does best in the prevention of post surgical infections says nothing about which hospital ranks the highest in the successful performance of their surgeries.

That's like judging which auto repair shop in town does the best engine overhaul by rating how clean the car is when they deliver it to you. You might have a spotless car, but still have an engine that won't run.

Uh, there's a big difference between not getting a car washed vs. getting a hospital-acquired infection.

[Chas863]

For those really interested in how Tennessee hospitals rated on "Safety", here is a portion of an article and a link to the article with that info (from October 2016).

https://patch.com/tennessee/nashvill...three-d-grades

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NASHVILLE, TN — Twenty-one hospitals in Tennessee scored an "A" on new safety grades released Monday by the nonprofit Leapfrog Group. Three hospitals scored "D" grades. No hospital in the state received an "F."

The Leapfrog Group uses "30 evidence-based measures of patient safety" including patient injuries, accidents and infections. Numerical scores are converted into letter grades. Of more than 2,600 hospitals graded nationwide, there were 844 "A" grade hospitals and only 20 "F" grade hospitals. Leapfrog is a nonprofit founded by large employers in 2000 to improve health care quality and safety.


Here are Tennessee hospital grades from Leapfrog:

Nashville General Hospital, D
Saint Thomas Midtown Hospital, C
Saint Thomas Rutherford Hospital, C
Saint Thomas West Hospital, B
StoneCrest Medical Center, A
Tristar Centennial Medical Center, A
Tristar Skyline Medical Center, B
TriStar Southern Hills Medical Center, B
TriStar Summit Medical Center, B
Vanderbilt University Hospital, B
Williamson Medical Center, A
Baptist Memorial Hospital ‐ Union City, A
Baptist Memorial Hospital of Collierville, B
Baptist Memorial Hospital of Memphis, C
Blount Memorial Hospital, C
Claiborne Medical Center, C
Cookeville Regional Medical Center, C
Cumberland Medical Center, B
Erlanger Baroness Hospital, C
Erlanger East Hospital, C
Fort Loudoun Medical Center, A
Fort Sanders Regional Medical Center, A
Franklin Woods Community Hospital, A
Henry County Medical Center, A
Indian Path Medical Center, D
Jackson‐Madison County General Hospital, B
Johnson City Medical Center, A
Laughlin Memorial Hospital, A
LeConte Medical Center, B
Lincoln Medical Center, D
Maury Regional Hospital, A
Memorial Hixson Hospital, A
Memorial Hospital Chattanooga, B
Methodist Le Bonheur Germantown Hospital, B
Methodist Medical Center of Oak Ridge, C
Methodist North Hospital, C
Methodist South Hospital, C
Methodist University Hospital, C
Milan General Hospital, A
Morristown‐Hamblen Healthcare System, B
North Knoxville Medical Center, B
Northcrest Medical Center, A
Parkridge East Hospital, C
Parkridge Medical Center, C
Parkwest Medical Center, A
Physicians Regional Medical Center, C
Regional One Health, C
River Park Hospital, B
Roane Medical Center, B
Saint Francis Hospital ‐ Bartlett, A
Saint Francis Hospital ‐Memphis, B
Skyridge Medical Center Main Campus, C
Skyridge Medical Center West Side Campus, C
Southern Tennessee Regional Health System Winchester, B
Southern Tennessee Regional Health Systems Pulaski, B
Starr Regional Medical Center, B
Sumner Regional Medical Center, C
Sycamore Shoals Hospital, B
Takoma Regional Hospital, A
Tennova Healthcare – Harton, C
The University of Tennessee Medical Center, A
Tristar Hendersonville Medical Center, A
Tristar Horizon Medical Center, A
Turkey Creek Medical Center, C
Wellmont Bristol Regional Medical Center, A
Wellmont Holston Valley Medical Center, B

[KathiOH1]

Leapfrog provides a good service to the public by attempting to give a grade for safety. A few things to keep in mind, this data relies on information that is 12 to 18 months old, some of it even older, to create their scores so much of what you see represents how a hospital did in the past, and not how they may be doing today; it is difficult to compare scores year to year because what they include in the overall score can (and does change). One year they may weight a measure heavily, and the next year, the same measure may not be included at all.

[rod5591]

One thing I've heard locally is that CRMC will not admit some high risk patients who come through the Emergency Room, This happened recently with a friend who had a stroke, CRMC would not accept her and she had to be helicoptered to Memphis at a cost of $25,000. That would be one way of dodging potentially adverse patient outcomes.

[jon313]

Cookeville REGIONAL Medical Center. Certainly not a Vanderbilt. I feel better knowing that they do know their limitations. It's usually either Nashville or Chattanooga depending on load, area of expertise and type of emergency. Brain trauma would be assessed and the first choice would be Chattanooga. Nashville for advanced coronary.

A Regional Hospital, while very good, is limited.