Lower Keys Medical Center Earns CMS 4-Star Quality Rating

8/8/2025

Score Reflects “Above Average” Quality, Safety and Patient Experience

Lower Keys Medical Center (LKMC) earned a 4-star overall hospital quality star rating in the most recent update from the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). The LKMC “above average” rating includes quality measures related to mortality, safety of care, readmissions, patient experience, and timely and effective care.

LKMC achieved a 4-star rating in 2022 and 2023, and received a 3-star rating in 2024. To re-establish its 4-star CMS rating, Lower Keys Medical Center made improvements in multiple patient experience measures including communication about medications, communications with nurses, quietness and staff responsiveness. Additional areas of advancement include fewer complications for inpatients, a reduction in length of stay for patients seeking care in the emergency department who did not require hospital admission, and a decrease in 30-day all-cause mortality rate for heart attack, heart failure and pneumonia patients.

“It takes a consistent commitment from our entire team to achieve an above average rating from CMS,” said Rosanna Mullen, chief quality officer, Lower Keys Medical Center. “Every day, we are focused on delivering safe, quality care to our patients, and this four-star rating reflects those efforts. While we will celebrate this milestone, we will continue to be vigilant in our approach by collaborating with our physicians and nursing leaders, providing education and training and implementing processes that support continuous improvement.”

The Overall Hospital Quality Star Ratings were first published in July 2016, when CMS, along with key stakeholders, developed the methodology to calculate and display overall hospital-level quality using a star rating system. This was done to make the information easier to use and understand to help consumers and their healthcare provider make decisions on where to receive care.

“These Star Ratings provide consumers with transparency and data about the quality of care they can expect at any given hospital,” said Drew Bigby, CEO, Lower Keys Medical Center. “When patients come to Lower Keys Medical Center, we want them to be confident in the quality of care they will receive. I commend the team at LKMC for their unwavering commitment to safe, quality healthcare and a great patient experience.”

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