Iron Mountain VA Medical Center receives a 5-star rating from CMS August 20, 2020

IRON MOUNTAIN, Mich. — The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) recently released the results of the 2019 patient experience star ratings and the Oscar G. Johnson VA Medical Center has again received a 5-star rating for Patient Experience. The facility has been rated as a 5-star quality performer every year since 2017.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) uses a five-star quality rating system to measure the experiences Medicare beneficiaries have with their health plan and health care system — the Star Rating Program. Health plans are rated on a scale of one to five stars, with five being the highest.

Results were based on the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems scores collected by the federal administrator of the nation’s major healthcare programs from Jan. 1 through Dec. 31, 2019. Each of 3,478 hospitals are assigned a patient experience star rating. Out of that number, 266 hospitals were rated as 5-star facilities. Eight of those were VA medical centers this year; and the Iron Mountain VAMC is one of eight in the nation.

“We are honored to be rated by the CMS at 5 stars for patient experience. I am very grateful to our employees and volunteers for creating an environment that fosters patient satisfaction,” said Jim Rice, medical center director. “Our people are what make the difference in these types of patient outcomes.”

This is the fourth time that the facility has received this rating from CMS. This is also the second consecutive year the facility was awarded the VHA Best Experience Award for Level 3 facilities by the Department of Veterans Affairs at the 2020 Veterans Patient Experience Symposium held in Washington, DC.