Maine Hospitals are Best in the Nation
Maine continues to offer higher quality hospital care on average than any other state in the country, according to data from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Hospital Compare website.
Hospital Compare provides a large, stable data set with individual hospital performance as well as state and national averages calculated by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). All publicly reported and comparable measuers with sufficient quantifiable data were included in the calculation. The hospital-reported data is subject to CMS validation.
Maine hospitals are among the best in the country according to a report from the federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), which used many of the same measures from Hospital Compare, along with claims and other data not posted by CMS.
Hospitals have long delivered outstanding care to the people of Maine. In 2003, a study in the Journal of the American Medical Association, using similar data, ranked the quality of care provided by Maine’s hospitals as third best in the country since 1998.
For hospital performance in 2012 and 2013, Medicare announced that 79 percent of Maine hospitals would receive a bonus for providing high quality care--a higher percentage of hospitals than any other state. On average, Maine hospitals saw their Medicare payments rise by 0.23 percent in 2012 and 0.24 percent in 2013. In 2014, even more Maine hospitals received bonuses--84 percent.
In October 2015, the Leapfrog Group released its Hospital Safety Scores. For the fourth time in a row, Maine hospitals had the highest percentage of A's in the country, with nearly 69 percent of Maine hospitals earning A's. In December 2015, six of the 24 hospitals that the Leapfrog Group named as Top Rural Hospitals in the country are Maine hospitals.
In 2015, Maine had the third highest rate of hospitals recognized for outstanding performance by the Joint Commission, according to that organization’s annual report.
Also in 2015, America's Health Rankings rated Maine number one for its treatment of seniors' existing conditions and the prevention of others.
Maine was number 1 in prevention/treatment in America's Health Rankings Annual Report and 15th overall.
In 2015, Maine was one of only five states that scored 8 out of 10 on key indicators related to preventing, detecting, diagnosing and responding to outbreaks, according to a new report from Trust for America’s Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
In November 2013, the March of Dimes awarded the state its Franklin Delano Roosevelt Award, which recognizes statewide efforts to reduce preterm births, or births prior to 37 weeks. Maine’s preterm birth rate dropped to 9.2 percent of all births in 2012, besting the national average of 11.5 percent and tying Maine with Alaska for third in the nation. Maine’s performance made it one of six states to earn an “A” grade on the March of Dimes’ most recent report card on premature births.
Maine hospitals also led the nation in measuring and reporting the quality of health care services. As early evidence of our commitment to transparency and accountability, MHA was among the first organizations in the country to routinely and voluntarily publicly release hospital-specific quality data, including patient survey results.
Although they are already leaders in providing high-quality health care, Maine’s hospitals still strive to improve. As the science of medicine evolves, so does the science of health care quality. The field is advancing rapidly and hospitals routinely re-evaluate how they structure, measure and monitor quality management and use that information to improve patient care.
MHA used the state averaged data available from CMS Hospital Compare, as described below
- Process Quality: the average of Maine hospitals’ performance on 22 quality measures across five clinical areas—heart attack, heart failure, pneumonia, surgical care and immunizations—for the 12-month period ending September 30, 2012. A higher score is better
- Patient Experience: the average of Maine hospitals’ patient experience of care survey (HCAHPS) scores for all 10 categories measured for the 12-month period ending September 30, 2012.
- Mortality: the average of Maine hospitals' rates for three clinical areas—heart attack, heart failure, pneumonia—for the 3-year period ending June 30, 2012.
2014 Printable flyer COMING SOON!!
2013 Printable flyer
2012 Printable flyer
Maine Voices: Maine's hospitals, on average, are the best in the nation Op Ed, Portland Press Herald, April 12, 2012
Maine hospitals ranked best Ellsworth American, April 12, 2012
Officials: Recent top hospital awards more evidence that Maine health care leads the nation Bangor Daily News, March 21, 2012