High-quality care and patient safety are Lee Health’s top priorities, and the health system recently announced three of its four acute care hospitals have been awarded four stars by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

Gulf Coast Medical Center, HealthPark Medical Center and Lee Memorial Hospital all maintained their four-star status in this period, and Cape Coral Hospital earned a high three-star rating. Children’s hospitals are not included in this ranking system.

In the past five years, all Lee Health hospitals have risen from two-stars to three and four-stars by finding ways to constantly improve patient care. These newly-released ratings reflect the continuous improvements Lee Health takes to provide the highest quality of care to the community it serves.

CMS’s overall star rating is based on how well a hospital performs across different areas of quality, such as treating heart attacks and pneumonia, readmission rates and safety of care. The rating shows how individual hospitals perform compared to all hospitals across the country for the 5 groups or categories of quality measures that make up for the overall star rating.

CMS created the Five-Star Quality Rating System to help consumers, their families and caregivers compare hospitals more easily. The scores are based on previously reported quality and safety data points including: patient satisfaction, value and outcomes, among others.

Learn more about Lee Health’s awards and recognitions at www.leehealth.org.