Contact: Matt Wickenheiser
207-662-6679 / matt.wickenheiser@mainehealth.org
PORTLAND, Maine – The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has given Maine Medical Center (MMC) five stars for quality in 2023. CMS awarded this top rating to just 483 – or 10.4 percent – of the 4,654 hospitals it evaluated.
The CMS star rating uses publically available Medicare program data to summarize quality information across five categories of care into a single star rating for each hospital. Categories include mortality, safety of care, readmission, patient experience and timely and effective care.
“This top quality score is the direct result of hard work and focused effort by our extraordinary care team,” said Joel Botler, MD, Chief Medical Officer and Interim President of MaineHealth’s Southern Region, which includes MMC. “The team is always looking for both large and small things it can do to improve quality and safety, and we can see that work pay off in this rating.”
MMC has improved its already strong quality and safety scores in several areas such as pressure injuries and post-operative complications. It continues to have excellent readmission rates, with fewer patients needing to return to the hospital within 30 days of discharge, and it maintains positive scores in patient experience.
“MMC is already taking steps not only to maintain this 5-star rating, but improve upon it,” said Mark Parker, MD, Vice President & Associate Chief Quality Officer, MaineHealth. “This includes a focus on basic safety principles, as well as targeting areas where we know we have challenges, such as reducing wait times in the Emergency Department.”
You can learn more about the methodology CMS uses in its star ratings here. To see MMC’s page on the CMS Hospital Compare website, click here.
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About Maine Medical Center
Maine Medical Center (MMC), recognized as a Best Regional Hospital by U.S. News and World Report for 2023-2024, is a complete health care resource for the people of Greater Portland and the entire state, as well as northern New England. Incorporated in 1868, MMC is the state’s largest medical center, licensed for 700 beds and employing more than 9,600 people. MMC's unique role as both a community hospital and a referral center requires an unparalleled depth and breadth of services, including an active educational program and a world-class biomedical research center. As a nonprofit institution, Maine Medical Center provides nearly 23 percent of all the charity care delivered in Maine. MMC is part of the MaineHealth system, a growing family of health care services in northern New England. For more information, visit www.mmc.org.