Wondering how Southwest Florida hospitals rank? See new federal scores.

One Southwest Florida hospital improved in quality ratings while other hospitals in the region stayed the same from a year ago, according to federal report cards.

Gulf Coast Medical Center in Lee County now has a four-star rating from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, a boost from its three-star rating in 2019. The highest possible is five stars.

Gulf Coast with 356 beds near Daniels and Metro parkways is part of the publicly-operated Lee Health.

Cape Coral Hospital, Lee Memorial Hospital and HealthPark Medical Center — all operated by Lee Health — pulled three stars in the latest ratings, the same as last year.

Dr. Larry Antonucci, president and CEO of Lee Health, said the CMS’ star ratings are a benchmark of quality and safety; the hospital system is proud to be recognized for delivering high quality of care to patients.

“This recognition is a testament to the hard work and dedication the doctors, advanced providers, nurses and support staff bring to providing high quality, compassionate and safe care at Lee Health hospitals,” he said in a statement.

Lee Health has worked extensively over the past three years on its quality and performance, Antonucci said.

“Driving Gulf Coast Medical Center’s four-star rating was performance above the national average in mortality measures, preventing hospital-acquired infections and the efficient use of medical imaging,” he said. “The hospital also made significant improvement in its readmission rate.”

The federal agency issues ratings on more than 4,500 hospitals nationwide.

More:United Way of Collier County plans merger with United Way of the Florida Keys

In Florida, 11 hospitals received five stars with the nearest to Southwest Florida being Sarasota Memorial Hospital.

Thirty-five hospitals in Florida received four stars, 41 got three stars and 58 received two stars. Another 24 hospitals were given one star.

NCH Healthcare System, with two campuses in Collier County, has maintained a four-star rating in the new report, the same as in 2019.

The NCH hospitals are the only four-star hospitals in Collier and are among the highest rated in the region, the nonprofit system said.

“We are happy to be justly recognized by CMS for the exceptional care NCH provides to help everyone in our community live longer, happier, healthier lives,” Paul Hiltz, president and CEO of NCH, said in a statement. “Our dedicated staff continues to strive to offer the best quality care to every patient, every time.”

Last fall, NCH filed a lawsuit against a private healthcare rating company, The Leapfrog Group, for its two hospitals receiving “D’” grades in 2019 for safety. The 2019 grades were a drop from a “B” for Baker Hospital Downtown and “C” for North Naples.

More:NCH Healthcare System files lawsuit against Leapfrog Group for 'D' patient safety grade

NCH is arguing in the case in Collier Circuit Court that Leapfrog uses outdated and incomplete data when hospitals decline to fill out a Leapfrog survey. Leapfrog uses federal data in those cases which means hospitals are graded on different measures.

NCH also says the Leapfrog survey that hospitals submit with their data is rarely audited. The lawsuit is pending.

Physicians Regional Healthcare System, also with two campuses in Collier, garnered two stars in the latest CMS ratings, the same as last year.

"Our team at Physicians Regional Healthcare System remains focused on providing high quality, compassionate health care," according to a hospital statement. "Our unwavering commitment to our patients and the community is to continuously improve the care and patient experience we provide."

Physicians Regional performs in line with or better than the national average in many areas related to patient outcomes, including infection rates, hospital-acquired conditions, safety of care, effectiveness of care and efficient use of medical imaging, according to the statement.

The CMS star rating has been under fire by the American Hospital Association that the ratings are “plagued by longstanding concerns about accuracy and meaningfulness,” Tim Nickels, executive vice president of AHA, said in a statement.

The AHA last year called on the federal agency to suspend the ratings while the federal agency works to develop methodology improvements so patients have information useful to them.

The new ratings use existing methodology that considers more than 100 measurements in seven broad categories. The categories are mortality, safety, readmissions, patient experience, effectiveness of care, timeliness of care and efficient use of medical imaging, according to CMS.

CMS in August said it would update its rating system starting in 2021.

“No rating system is perfect, but we are pleased to be performing well on the one currently in place,” Antonucci, CEO of Lee Health, said. “More important than the ratings is providing exceptional quality and safety to our patients, which in turn will be evident in our high scores.”

Still, Antonucci said Lee Health supports CMS’ efforts to improve their methodologies.

A total of 407 hospitals across the U.S. received five stars and 1,136 hospitals received four stars, according to the Advisory Board, a research and health-care consulting firm headquartered in Washington, D.C.

Another 1,191 hospitals received three rates and 710 hospitals have two stars. The lowest one star was assigned to 228 hospitals.