Five Star Rating

Tippah County Hospital awarded 5-star rating

(Hunter Givens - Southern Sentinel)
RIPLEY • From the outside, the Tippah County Hospital looks to be improving, as ever-increasing progress is being made on the construction of the new hospital building adjacent to the current one.
On the inside of the current hospital building, just as much progress and work has been done, as TCH recently received a 5-star rating from the Center of Medicare and Medicaid.
Each year, the Center for Medicare and Medicaid, or CMS, publishes the Compare Star Rating for hospitals nationwide. This star rating system is a user-friendly format that allows anybody to get a summary of the quality of a medical care facility. This year, Tippah County Hospital has received 5-stars, the highest rating CMS issues.
“We are extremely proud of our team in achieving 5 stars,” Tippah County Hospital CEO Dr. Patrick Chapman said. “It is no easy accomplishment, but it underscores the hard work that happens here every single day.”
The overall star rating for hospitals summarizes quality information on important topics such as: re-admissions and deaths after heart attacks or pneumonia. The overall rating, between one and five stars, summarizes a variety of measures across seven areas of quality into a single star rating for each hospital. The seven measure groups include: Mortality, Safety of care, Readmission, Patient experience, Effectiveness of care, Timeliness of care, and Efficient use of medical imaging.
Notable factors important in regard to Tippah County Hospital’s 5-star rating included: hospitalist Carla Bray’s work on Timely Sepsis Care, which gave Tippah County Hospital a 94% result compared to a national average of 59%. Chief Nursing Officer Carol Anne Hurt’s HCAHPs Sub-committee A-South and the ER’s work on improving Admit Decision Time to ED Departure Time for Admitted Patients. It also included clocking in at 52 minutes compared to the national average of 99 minutes, and the ER’s work on improving Median time from ED Arrival to ED Departure for Discharged ED Patients. Lastly, it included clocking in at 96 minutes compared to the national median of 142 minutes.
Dr. Chapman also noted the work of Tabitha Clifton, RN as a major factor in Tippah County Hospital’s 5-star rating.
“One of the main reasons is that we have the best director of quality to be found in any hospital, Tabitha Clifton, RN.,” Dr. Chapman said. “We are so fortunate to have her here at Tippah.”
Both Dr. Chapman and Clifton noted that improvements will continue despite the 5-star rating. The current focuses of the hospital’s Quality Assurance and Performance Improvement Committee, according to them, include reducing overall 30-day readmission rates to less than the national average, as well as focusing on preventative care for patients, with emphasis on those who use Tippah County Health Clinic.