Hilo Medical Center earns high marks

Hilo Medical Center is one of four hospitals in the state to earn a four-star ranking from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

Hilo Medical Center is one of four hospitals in the state to earn a four-star ranking from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

Rankings from the federal agencies were released Wednesday and include all acute care hospitals in the country — more than 4,200 in all.

Although the centers have collected information about the quality of hospital programs and services for decades, this is the first time that data has been summarized in a single star ranking.

“Most of us, before we go somewhere, we Yelp it, or we ask around … (and) read the reviews,” said Dan Brinkman, East Hawaii Regional CEO of Hawaii Health Systems Corp., which administers HMC. “You have an idea of where you want to go.”

The CMS rankings have particular value, he said.

“A hospital really can’t operate unless they take Medicare money,” Brinkman said. “The government pays for that, so what Medicaid and Medicare says really has an impact on any hospital.”

In a statement, HHSC East Hawaii Region board chair Kurt Corbin pointed to the bigger picture of the rankings.

“The Hilo Medical Center team has proven that a safety net hospital such as ours, that serves a mostly rural population, can also be exceptional,” he said.

Just one Hawaii facility, Straub Clinic and Hospital in Honolulu, received five stars, the highest ranking. Two percent of the hospitals surveyed received this ranking.

Twenty percent of the hospitals received four stars. Other four-star facilities in Hawaii are Pali Momi Medical Center, Queen’s Medical Center, both on Oahu, and Kauai’s Wilcox Memorial Hospital.

“I’m happy because we’re in the top 25 percent of hospitals in the country,” Brinkman said.

Email Ivy Ashe at iashe@hawaiitribune-herald.com.