Lower Keys Medical Center earns 4 Star CMS Rating

(Key West, FL – AUGUST 8, 2022) – The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) recently released updated Medicare overall hospital quality star ratings on its Care Compare website, and Lower Keys Medical Center has improved to a 4 Star Rating. Of 213 hospitals in the State of Florida, only 55 have earned a rating of 4 or 5 stars.

“We continue to focus on quality improvement and patient safety,” said David Clay, CEO. “That is how we have been able to consistently improve our CMS Star rating over the past several years. It takes a dedicated team to move from a 3 Star to a 4 star and I am so proud of my colleagues at Lower Keys Medical Center. We have implemented multiple quality initiatives and measurements to guide us on our continuous quality improvement journey.”

Lower Keys Medical Center performed well in the areas of Timely and Effective Care, Complications and Deaths, Unplanned Hospital Visits and Payment and Value of Care.

The overall rating shows how well an individual hospital is performing compared to other hospitals in the US, on average. CMS uses more than 100 quality measures to determine a hospital’s star rating. The ratings are designed to help individuals compare facilities and understand quality metrics.

Lower Keys Medical Center has focused on several initiatives including establishment of an internal patient experience committee and an external Patient Family Advisory Council; daily reporting and discussion on patient experience surveys; executive and nurse leader rounding; hourly nursing patient rounding; enhanced bedside shift reporting; daily interdisciplinary team meeting addressing patient discharge needs and post-discharge follow up care; streamlined registration process; multidisciplinary approach to medication education for patients throughout their admission; enhanced infection prevention programs; and daily examination of readmissions with a focus on prevention.

About:  Lower Keys Medical Center’s accreditations include: The Joint Commission Acute Care Hospital Program (re-accredited February 2022); American College of Cardiology as a Chest Pain Center; The Joint Commission as a Primary Stroke Center; The Joint Commission, for Laboratory Services; The American College of Radiology for Mammography; and the Intersocietal Accreditation Commission for Transthoracic Echocardiography (TEE). The hospital is also recognized by the American Heart Association’s “Gold Plus “Get With the Guidelines” Stroke quality achievement award.