SVMC Receives 5-Star Rating from CMS

One of Only Three Hospitals in Vermont to Receive the Honor

BENNINGTON, VT—August 14, 2023—Southwestern Vermont Medical Center (SVMC), a member of Dartmouth Health, is one of only 483 hospitals in the country—including just three in Vermont—to receive a coveted five-star Overall Hospital Quality Star Rating from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).

Intended to provide information to consumers to help them make informed choices about where to get their health care, the Star Rating system evaluates over 4,500 Medicare-certified hospitals nationwide based on their performance across 46 quality measures divided into five quality categories: mortality, safety of care, readmission rate, patient experience, and timely & effective care.

“This is a tremendous achievement for our organization,” stated Tom Dee, President and CEO. “Receiving the Five-Star Rating from CMS is one of the highest honors a healthcare organization strives to accomplish. Our physicians, providers, nurses, and staff are dedicated to continuously improving patient-centered care and fulfilling our mission each day to provide exceptional healthcare to our community.”

SVMC earned their highest marks in communication with nurses and doctors, care transitions, central line-associated bloodstream infections, seven-day risk-standardized hospital visit rate after outpatient colonoscopy, pneumonia 30-day mortality rate, and excess days in acute care after hospitalization for pneumonia, the latter which was scored statistically better than the national average.

CMS assigned star ratings to 10% of hospitals nationwide based on performance across those five quality categories.

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About SVMC:
Southwestern Vermont Medical Center (SVMC), a member hospital of Dartmouth Health, is a comprehensive, preeminent, healthcare system providing exceptional, convenient, and affordable care to the communities of Bennington and Windham Counties of Vermont, eastern Rensselaer and Washington Counties of New York, and northern Berkshire County in Massachusetts. SVMC includes Southwestern Vermont Regional Cancer Center, the SVHC Foundation, as well as 25 primary and specialty care practices.

Southwestern Vermont Medical Center is among the most lauded small rural health systems in the nation. It is the recipient of the American Hospital Association’s 2020 Rural Hospital Leadership Award. In addition, SVMC is a five-time recipient of the American Nurses Credentialing Center’s Magnet® recognition for nursing excellence. The health system is fortunate to have the support of platinum-level corporate sponsor Mack, a leading supplier of contract manufacturing services and injection molded plastic parts based in Arlington, VT.

Southwestern Vermont Medical Center provides exceptional care without discriminating on the basis of an individual’s age, race, ethnicity, religion, culture, language, physical or mental disability, socioeconomic status, sex, sexual orientation, or gender identity or expression. Language assistance services, free of charge, are available at 1-800-367-9559.

SVMC Contact: leslie.keefe@svhealthcare.org

About Dartmouth Health: Dartmouth Health, New Hampshire’s only academic health system and the state’s largest private employer, serves patients across northern New England. Dartmouth Health provides access to more than 2,000 providers in almost every area of medicine, delivering care at its flagship hospital, Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center (DHMC) in Lebanon, NH, as well as across its wide network of hospitals, clinics and care facilities. DHMC is consistently named the #1 hospital in New Hampshire by U.S. News & World Report, and is recognized for high performance in numerous clinical specialties and procedures. Dartmouth Health includes Dartmouth Cancer Center, one of only 51 National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Centers in the nation, and the only such center in northern New England; Dartmouth Health Children’s, which includes the state’s only children’s hospital and multiple locations around the region; member hospitals in Lebanon, Keene and New London, NH, and Windsor, VT; and Visiting Nurse and Hospice for Vermont and New Hampshire; and more than 24 clinics that provide ambulatory and specialty services across New Hampshire and Vermont. Through its historical partnership with Dartmouth and the Geisel School of Medicine, Dartmouth Health trains nearly 400 medical residents and fellows annually, and performs cutting-edge research and clinical trials recognized across the globe with Geisel and the White River Junction VA Medical Center in White River Junction, VT. Dartmouth Health and its more than 13,000 employees are deeply committed to serving the healthcare needs of everyone in our communities, and to providing each of our patients with exceptional, personal care.

DH Contact: news@dartmouth-health.org