By Amye Anderson
UCBJ Managing Editor
COOKEVILLE – Out of the 91 hospitals in the state, Cookeville Regional Medical Center has been named the safest.
“We’re the safest facility in the state of Tennessee,” said Paul Korth, CRMC CEO, during his presentation to the hospital’s board of trustees Thursday evening.
Data for that ranking was compiled by CMS, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, using patient outcomes. CMS is part of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and administers a variety of programs including: Medicare, Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), and the Health Insurance Marketplace.
“We just found out this week,” Korth said. “Out of the 91 hospitals in the state, we rank number one in patient safety (and) safety outcomes.”
CRMC ranks among the top 25 in the nation for safety, he added.
Korth estimates more than 300,000 patients were treated at CRMC in 2017. Of those, 52,503 were emergency room visits and another 162,392 were outpatient visits. More than 8,000 surgeries were performed at the hospital in 2017 and 1,504 babies were delivered there.
CRMC, which paid out more than $117.9 million in salaries, wages, and benefits to its 2,214 employees last year, also noted more than $26.7 million in charity and uncompensated care had been provided to patients.
“We have challenges,” Korth told the board. “There’s going to be challenges each and every year moving forward.”
Changes to healthcare, including new government rules, reimbursement reductions, increased costs of advancing technology, increased cybersecurity risk, and increased drug costs continually create new challenges for the hospital each year.
“Why do we do it? It’s to take care of the patients and be here for them when they need medical treatment,” said Korth.
