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How do you choose a health care facility?
Most of our choices are guided by where our doctor has privileges and by which facilities accept our health insurance. We’re also guided by past experiences and our talks with coworkers, friends and family.
There also are a variety of outlets providing detailed assessments of facilities. Two of the better-known assessments have been updated recently: the star ratings from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and the letter grade assessments from the nonprofit Leapfrog Group.
In facilities serving metro Richmond, five hospitals earned four-star ratings on the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ five-star scale: the Bon Secours facilities Memorial Regional Medical Center in Mechanicsville, St. Francis Medical Center in Midlothian and St. Mary’s Hospital; HCA’s Henrico Doctors Hospital; and the VCU Medical Center.
Three-star facilities include HCA’s John Randolph Medical Center in Hopewell and Chippenham Johnston-Willis Hospital. Bon Secours’ Southside Regional Medical Center earned two stars. The ratings were updated April 28 and consider factors including patient perceptions, treatment and care, safety factors, mortality, and readmission rates.
Patient safety is the focus of Leapfrog ratings, which were released April 29, earning grades on a scale of A to F. There were 66 facilities assessed in Virginia. Half earned A’s, including metro Richmond facilities Retreat Doctors’ Hospital, Parham Doctors’ Hospital, Henrico Doctors’ Hospital, CJW Medical Center’s campuses, St. Mary’s Hospital and St. Francis Medical Center.
Eighteen Virginia facilities earned B’s, including John Randolph Medical Center and Southside Regional Medical Center. Thirteen received a grade of C, including Memorial Regional Medical Center and VCU Medical Center In the Richmond area. The lowest scores marked in the commonwealth were D’s at two facilities in Lynchburg.
CAPSULES
Health and medical news of the week in brief
- Clean up and clean out your home and make some donations of furniture and household items to benefit the CARITAS Furniture Bank at an event on May 14 and May 15 at Custom View, 1965 Westmoreland St. The drive is part of Caring for CARITAS, a collaborative drive by the metro area’s interior designers and suppliers. They’re looking for items including gently used metal bed frames, mattresses and box springs (but no king-size or foam bedding), sofas, love seats, dressers, bookcases, kitchen tables (no glass tops, please), chairs, cookware, and utensils. You’ll be helping out a program that helps people “break the cycles of homelessness and addiction.”
- Blood donations will be accepted from noon to 5 p.m. on Thursday, May 13, at the Richmond Raceway Complex’s Commonwealth Building. The drive is in conjunction with the American Red Cross of Virginia. Register at redcrossblood.org,
- HCA Healthcare has been honored among the 2021 LinkedIn Top Companies as one of the 50 best American companies for growing one's career. It placed 34th on the list and was lauded for its efforts during the pandemic such as keeping all employees employed, providing 70% base pay to those whose hours were cut and providing full pay to its workers who had to be quarantined, and paying for motel rooms for the frontline workers treating COVID-19 patients so they wouldn’t expose their family members at home.
