ER Inspector FALMOUTH HOSPITALFALMOUTH HOSPITAL

ER Inspector

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Updated September 19, 2019

This database was last updated in September 2019. It should only be used as a historical snapshot.Researchers can find more recent data on timely and effective care in the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ hospitals datasets and guidance about hospital regulations.

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ER Inspector » Massachusetts » FALMOUTH HOSPITAL

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FALMOUTH HOSPITAL

67 & 100 ter heun drive, falmouth, Mass. 02540

(508) 548-5300

77% of Patients Would "Definitely Recommend" this Hospital
(Mass. Avg: 73%)

1 violation related to ER care since 2015

Hospital Type

Acute Care Hospitals

Hospital Owner

Voluntary non-profit - Private

ER Volume

Medium (20K - 40K patients a year)

See this hospital's CMS profile page or inspection reports.

Patient Pathways Through This ER

After a patient arrives at the emergency room, they are typically seen by a doctor or medical practitioner and then either sent home or admitted to the hospital and taken to a room. A small percentage of patients leave without being seen. The chart below shows on average how long each of these pathways take. Lower numbers are better, and all times refer to the average length of time people waited.

Arrives at ER
1% of patients leave without being seen
4hrs 36min Admitted to hospital
6hrs 5min Taken to room
2hrs 40min Sent home

All wait times are average.

Detailed Quality Measures

Here is a more in depth look at each quality measure, compared to state and national averages for hospitals with medium ER volumes. Experts caution that very small differences between hospitals for a given measure are unlikely to correspond to noticeable differences in the real world.

Measure
Average for this Hospital
How this Hospital Compares

(to other hospitals with similar
ER volumes, when available)

Discharged Patients
Time Until Sent Home

Average time patients spent in the emergency room before being sent home (if not admitted).

2hrs 40min
National Avg.
2hrs 23min
Mass. Avg.
2hrs 38min
This Hospital
2hrs 40min
Impatient Patients
Left Without
Being Seen

Percentage of patients who left the emergency room without being seen by a doctor or medical practitioner.

1%
Avg. U.S. Hospital
2%
Avg. Mass. Hospital
2%
This Hospital
1%
Admitted Patients
Time Before Admission

Average time patients spent in the emergency room before being admitted to the hospital.

4hrs 36min

Data submitted were based on a sample of cases/patients.

National Avg.
4hrs 21min
Mass. Avg.
5hrs 7min
This Hospital
4hrs 36min
Admitted Patients
Transfer Time

Among patients admitted, additional time they spent waiting before being taken to their room (sometimes referred to as "boarding time.")

1hr 29min

Data submitted were based on a sample of cases/patients.

National Avg.
1hr 33min
Mass. Avg.
1hr 32min
This Hospital
1hr 29min
Special Patients
CT Scan

Percentage of patients who arrived with stroke symptoms and did not receive brain scan results within 45 mins.

33%
National Avg.
27%
Mass. Avg.
29%
This Hospital
33%

Violations Related to ER Care

Problems found in emergency rooms at this hospital since 2015, as identified during the investigation of a complaint. About This Data →

Violation
Full Text
EMERGENCY SERVICES POLICIES

Oct 18, 2017

Based on records reviewed and interviews, Hospital A failed for one (Patient #1) of ten medical records sampled to facilitate an effective and timely physician communication process to transfer a patient from Hospital A to Hospital B. Findings include: The Emergency Department (ED) Physician Note, dated 6/13/17, indicated that Physician #1 made multiple phone calls to Hospital B in an attempt to transfer Patient #1 to Hospital B for continued bleeding.

See More ↓

Based on records reviewed and interviews, Hospital A failed for one (Patient #1) of ten medical records sampled to facilitate an effective and timely physician communication process to transfer a patient from Hospital A to Hospital B. Findings include: The Emergency Department (ED) Physician Note, dated 6/13/17, indicated that Physician #1 made multiple phone calls to Hospital B in an attempt to transfer Patient #1 to Hospital B for continued bleeding. The ED note indicated that Physician #1 conducted call #1 to Hospital B's Gastroenterology Specialist on-call who identified that Patient #1 would require a colorectal surgeon. The ED note indicated that Physician #1 placed call #2 to Hospital B's ED who stated they needed to check bed status. The ED note indicated that Hospital B never called back. The ED note indicated that Physician #1 placed call #3 to Hospital B's ED and this time Hospital B questioned why Patient #1's bleeding could not be treated by Hospital A's general surgeon. The ED note indicated that Physician #1 placed call #4 to Hospital A's on-call general surgeon. The ED note indicated that the general surgeon was not able to repair the complication of the banding procedure (bleeding after rectal surgery). The ED note indicated that Physician #1 placed call #5 to Hospital C (a tertiary care facility) who accepted Patient #1 in transfer. The Surveyor interviewed Physician #1 at 9:00 A.M. on 10/17/17. Physician #1 said he made multiple calls to Hospital B without a confirmed acceptance from Hospital B. Physician #1 said he decided to arrange for helicopter transport to Hospital C to treat Patient #1 for continued bleeding. The Hospital's Internal Investigation, dated 10/16/17 regarding Patient #1, indicated that Hospital A identified the transfer process between Hospital A and Hospital B required corrective action. The Surveyor interviewed the Chief Medical Officer (CMO) at 1:15 P.M. on 10/16/17. The CMO said that the transfer process between Hospital A and Hospital B required improvement. The Surveyor interviewed the ED Chief/Medical Director at 10:00 A.M. on 10/17/17. The ED Director said that a new transfer process was not fully implemented.

See Less ↑
Notes

“Average time” refers to the median wait time (the midpoint of all patients' wait times). References to “doctor or medical practitioner” indicate a doctor, nurse practitioner or physician's assistant. CMS reports the CT scan quality measure as the percentage of patients who received a scan within 45 minutes. We have reversed that measure so that all measures follow a “lower is better” pattern.

Additional design and development by Mike Tigas and Sisi Wei.

Sources

All data comes from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Detailed quality measures at the hospital, state and national level were last updated September 2019. Most data was collected between October 2017 and October 2018. Data on ER-related violations is from January 2015 to June 2019.

Additional Info

How We've Updated ER Inspector | Download ProPublica's Emergency Room Planning Toolkit | About This Data

Don’t See Your ER?

In some cases we aren’t able to identify the exact location of a hospital, so it doesn’t appear on our mapped search results. However, it may still be in our database – try looking for it in the list of hospitals on each state's page.

In other cases, the hospital is missing from our database because it doesn't have an emergency department.

In other cases, the hospital is missing from the federal government’s Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) data. There are a couple of reasons why a hospital isn’t included in CMS data: it may not participate in Medicare, or it may share a certification number with another hospital (common across large hospital systems).

If you notice a hospital missing from our database, please first check if you can find it on CMS' website, and that it is listed as having an ER. If so, please email us with the hospital name and address.