Island Health continues to earn high marks from the Center for Medicare and Medicare Services (CMS) by earning a third straight five-star rating for their overall ranking.

CMS is a federal agency within the United States Department of Health and Human Services. One of their services is to provide public data to provide a more comprehensive picture for patients. By using their comparison tool: https://www.medicare.gov/ care-compare/, patients can compare local hospitals and compare patient ratings for different hospital services. The overall rating is a composite rating from five categories including: mortality, safety of care, readmission, patient experience, and timely and effective care.

Island Health’s five star rating puts the hospital in top-ranked company. CMS reviewed 4,658 hospitals nationwide and awarded 8.2% with an overall five-star rating.

Seven hospitals in Washington State earned the distinction.

“We’re neighbors taking care of neighbors… It’s about the physicians, the nurses, our techs and the people at the bedsides that are delivering that care… It’s pretty amazing seeing everyone pull together to achieve that five star rating,” Island Health CEO Elise Cutter said.

The five-star rating isn’t Island Health’s only recent news. This past month, the hospital moved forward with several projects including renovating the Main 24th Street Entrance, Central Waiting Area and Emergency Department and constructing a new helipad on the hospital’s roof.

They also hired two new doctors: Dr. Brock Boehm and Dr. Christopher DiPesa over the past month to its team.

Boehm, who previously worked at Darnall Army Medical Center in Fort Cavazo, Texas, is joining the Island Urology clinic staff. According to a press release from Island Hospital, Boehm believes in providing comprehensive and evidence-based urological care to every patient, guiding them through challenges to arrive at successful outcomes. His particular interests lie in urologic oncology, and he has expertise in robotic surgery and advanced technology for minimally invasive techniques where surgery is required for benign enlarged prostates or kidney stones.

DiPesa is an osteopathic physician who previously earned his Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine from Oklahoma State University. According to a press release from Island Hospital, DiPesa’s clinical interests include but are not limited to a wide range of psychiatric disorders, including depressive disorders, bipolar spectrum disorders, anxiety disorders, substance use disorders and trauma-related disorders.

Chief Clinical Officer Tammy Needham is excited to continue to grow their team.

“We’re high performing and if you come here, you’re choosing to be high performing…They’re policies and procedures that decrease the variability of care so that every patient is getting what they should every time, regardless of which nurse, tech or physician is seeing them,” Needham said.

The two new hires are part of a larger effort by Island Hospital to expand their medical staff.

“We heard loud and clear from our community that we needed more primary care access,” Chief Medical Officer Jason Hogge said.

“Over the last couple years, we’ve boarded and recruited six primary care physicians just to improve access to care for our community so patients don’t have to leave the community to go to the doctor,” Hogge said.