Hermann Area District Hospital received a four-star rating in a survey of readmissions and deaths after heart attacks or pneumonia, according to the website medicare.gov.

A patient survey rating is included in the rating system which ranks hospitals from one to five stars which summarizes a variety of measures across seven areas of quality control.

Those controls include mortality, safety of care, readmission, patient experience, effectiveness of care, timeliness of care, and efficient use of medical imaging,

The HCAHPS star ratings summarize patient experience, which is one aspect of hospital quality. The patient survey rating is typically based on a one year response period. The site listed 656 completed surveys for HADH, a 35-percent response rate.

Hermann received high marks, an 86.6 percent rating, from patients who reported that their nurses “always” communicated well. The national and state averages were both 81 percent.

HADH physicians were also rated at 92 percent for “always communicating well with their patients. The national and state averages were 82 and 81 percent respectively.

And, for patients who reported that they “always” received help as soon as they wanted, Hermann scored an 83 percent rating. The national average was 70 percent and the state figure was 69 percent.

Patients who gave their hospital a rating of 9 or 10 on a scale from 0 (lowest) to 10 (highest) gave HADH an 88-percent rating — well above the national average of 73 percent and the state average of 72.

HADH patients reporting “yes, they would definitely recommend the hospital” on 78 percent of the surveys. National and state averages were 72 and 70 percent respectively.

The overall rating shows how well each hospital performed on an identified set of quality measures compared to other hospitals in the U.S. The more stars, the better a hospital performed on the available quality measures.