How was your experience at MCMC? Fill in the questionnaire.
- UPCOMING: Continuous Improvement Investigation of MCMC
- How is Hospital Quality Measured and How Does Miners Colfax Rate?
Posted May 1, 2024
UPCOMING: Continuous Improvement Investigation of MCMC
By Sally Hoger
Most of the primary and specialty health care shortage areas are in rural communities and half of rural hospitals have less than 25 beds and few specialty services available.
We are fortunate to have MCMC hospital located in Raton since it serves many of the surrounding areas as well.
In an upcoming series of articles, we will examine how MCMC works to improve quality of care and patient satisfaction
- based on the hospital’s mission statement:
“to be a leader providing quality Acute Care, Long Term Care and related services to the beneficiaries of the Miner’s Trust Fund of New Mexico and the people of Northeastern New Mexico and surrounding region.”
- And based on the hospital’s strategic plan that includes
“Improve Patient Experience in Primary Care Clinic.”
Hospitals typically monitor quality by collecting data such as good and bad outcomes, number of infections, number of falls, etc that are reported to external sources such as Medicare and Medicaid. Patient satisfaction is most often measured using surveys.
We will also examine workforce development strategies. Are there enough staff and medical personnel to provide good care and are they adequately trained? Currently, MCMC is striving to fill all vacant staff and nursing positions and to stop using temporary staff. There are nine vacant nursing positions as well as openings for other licensed personnel such as pharmacists and laboratory scientists.
Thirteen physicians and nurse practitioners are on staff. Is this sufficient? Patients must travel outside of Raton for most specialty treatment.
As this series of in-depth articles develops, we look forward to hearing about your experience as a patient of the hospital, clinic or emergency department.
Posted May 18, 2024
How is Hospital Quality Measured and How Does Miners Colfax Rate?
By Sally Hoger
Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems
(HCAHPS), part of the Medicare/Medicaid system, administers the CAHPS
Hospital Survey which asks patients to report on recent experiences with
inpatient care. The survey focuses on aspects of hospital care that are important
to patients. * It also asks respondents to rate the hospital and indicate their
willingness to recommend the hospital. This is how a hospital gets a “star” rating
and is also a means for potential patients to get information about a particular
hospital.
If a hospital is small, like Miners Colfax, there is no star rating, ** but the other
results are available on the website Hospital Compare. I checked it out and
compared MCMC to two similar hospitals nearby (Mount San Rafael, Trinidad
and Holy Cross, Taos) and to State and National results.
Some highlights: More than 80% of patients from all three local hospitals thought
doctors and nurses communicated well and that help was always received when
needed, which is above both the National and State levels. Areas of concern
were that only 44% of MCMC patients thought their medications were well-
explained and 43% said they strongly agreed that they understood the care given
to them. Nationally, the levels were 62% and 52%, respectively. A majority (72%)
of MCMC patients gave an overall rating of 9 or 10, which is above the state and
national level. MCMC and San Rafael scored above the national average in
having clean and quiet rooms and bathrooms.
Upcoming Articles
How MCMC measures quality within the hospital and clinic
Assessment of local survey by The Ratonian. See note below.
We Want to Hear from You
Please complete the online survey located under Community Health on The Ratonian
webpage if you or a family member have recently been a patient at Miners Colfax
Medical Center.
*The HCAHPS Survey captures the patient’s experience of communication with doctors
and nurses, responsiveness of hospital staff, communication about medicines,
cleanliness and quietness of the hospital, discharge information, and overall rating of
the hospital.
**A five-star rating is the highest. There are no 5-star hospitals in New Mexico, but there
are four hospitals with four stars. Two are in Santa Fe: Presbyterian and CHRISTUS St.
Vincent Medical Center.
Please fill out the questionnaire about care at MCMC
In order to receive the most accurate feedback, respondents are required to fill out all fields and include contact information. Your information will remain anonymous. If you wish to discuss your experiences directly with The Ratonian (perhaps something you’d like to share not included on the survey), please send an email to: editor@theratonian.com and we will contact you to set up a time. You may complete this survey more than once – for example one for a clinic visit and one for a separate hospital visit. If you can’t remember exact day or time of appointments, an estimate is fine.
We appreciate the time you are taking to complete this survey!