JEFF HERNDON
Dole VA Medical Center
WICHITA, Kan. — For the second year in a row, the Robert J. Dole VA Medical Center earned a 5-star rating from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) in their annual Overall Hospital Quality Star Ratings. Only 8.2% (381) of the 4,658 hospitals surveyed received a 5-star rating this year, placing the Dole VA Medical Center in elite company.
Nationally, VA hospitals continue to outperform non-VA hospitals on both CMS’ Overall Star Rating and their quarterly patient satisfaction survey:
Hospital Quality Ratings: In this year’s CMS Overall Hospital Quality Star Ratings, 58% of VA hospitals included received 4- or 5-star ratings compared to 40% of non-VA hospitals. This is only the second year VA hospitals have been included in this review, and VA has outperformed non-VA health care in both years.
Patient Satisfaction Survey: VA outperformed non-VA hospitals in the most recent quarterly patient satisfaction review, the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers & Systems (HCAHPS) star ratings, with 79% of VA facilities receiving a summary star rating of 4 or 5 stars compared to 40% of non-VA hospitals. This represents the ninth consecutive quarter in which VA facilities have outperformed non-VA counterparts.
These findings come at a time when Veteran trust in VA outpatient care has reached an all-time record high of 92%, based on a survey of more than 440,000 Veterans. Dole VA’s trust score currently stands at 93.1%.
Additionally, these findings are consistent with a recent systematic review that found that VA health care is consistently as good as — or better than — non-VA health care.
Both CMS ratings aim to improve patients’ ability to make informed decisions about where they receive care. CMS awards Overall Star Ratings to hospitals based on five categories: mortality, safety of care, readmission, patient experience, and timely and effective care.
In patient experience, scores from this year’s survey found Dole VA provides a cleaner and quieter environment, patients reporting their nurses always communicated well increased, and responsiveness of hospital staff improved, when compared to last year’s scores.
Dole VA also saw improvement in readmission rates. Readmissions following treatment for heart attacks, pneumonia, and COPD all decreased.
Commensurate with their commitment to safety, Dole VA experienced a decrease in hospital-acquired infections (HAI) year over year. Related to this, Dole VA’s Intensive Care Unit (ICU) recently celebrated an entire year without an HAI.
VA is committed to delivering the timely, world-class health care Veterans deserve and will stop at nothing less. The overall rating — as well as ratings on specific quality and satisfaction measures — of the Robert J. Dole VA Medical Center can be found via CMS’ Care Compare tool.