Mount Sinai Medical Center Review

Updated May 2021

Mount Sinai Medical Center is located in Miami Beach, Florida, and is the largest independent nonprofit hospital in South Florida. The hospital was founded by Laurans Mendelson in 1949 and provides innovative and comprehensive care in cardiology, neuroscience, oncology, orthopedics, pulmonology and urology.

Mount Sinai Medical Center has received America’s Top 250 Best Hospital Award (2020, 2021) by Healthgrades and has been named as on the 100 Top Hospitals in the Country list by IBM Watson Health. The hospital has received a 4-star rating from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).

It was once considered a world-class hospital, but now its reputation is restricted to South Florida only.

U.S. News

Overview Of Mount Sinai Medical Center

Mount Sinai Medical Center in Miami Beach, Florida, is rated high-performing in two adult specialties and three procedures and conditions. It is a teaching hospital.

Rankings And Ratings Of Mount Sinai Medical Center

  • Cancer
    • National rank: Not ranked
    • Overall score: 32/100
    • Conditions/procedures applicable to cancer:
      • Lung cancer surgery: 3/5 (average score)
      • Colon cancer surgery: 3/5 (average score)
  • Cardiology And Heart Surgery
    • National rank: Not ranked
    • Overall score: 44.4/100
    • Conditions/procedures applicable to cardiology and heart surgery:
      • Heart failure: 5/5 (high performing)
      • Heart bypass surgery: 3/5 (average)
      • Abdominal, aortic, aneurysm repair: 3/5 (average score)
      • Aortic valve surgery: 5/5 (high performing)
      • Transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR): 2/5 (below average score)
  • Orthopedics
    • National rank: Not ranked
    • Overall score: 36.5/100
    • Conditions/procedures applicable to orthopedics:
      • Hip replacement: 3/5 (average)
      • Knee replacement: 3/5 (average)
  • Pulmonology
    • National rank: Not ranked
    • Overall score: 54/100
    • Conditions/procedures applicable to pulmonology:
      • Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: 5/5 (high performing)

Patient Experience At Mount Sinai Medical Center

Scores are based on surveys taken from Mount Sinai Medical Center’s inpatients inquiring about the different aspects of their stays after they were discharged:

  • Satisfaction with the hospital overall: 3/5
  • Willingness to recommend: 3/5
  • Satisfaction with doctors’ communications: 3/5
  • Satisfaction with nurses’ communications: 3/5
  • Satisfaction with efforts to prevent medication harm: 2/5
  • Satisfaction with quality of discharge information: 2/5
  • Satisfaction with involvement in recovery: 3/5
  • Satisfaction with staff responsiveness: 2/5
  • Satisfaction with hospital room cleanliness: 3/5
  • Satisfaction with noise volume: 2/5

The hospital fared average at inpatient surveys. It scored 3 out of 5.

Mount Sinai Medical Center used to be one of the best hospitals in the country. Even if the hospital’s ratings are average, it has not been able to earn a national ranking.

Leapfrog General Safety Rating

The latest Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade of Mount Sinai Medical Center is B for fall of 2020.

The Leapfrog Group rates Mount Sinai Medical Center in the categories below:

Infections

  • MRSA infection: Staph bacteria are common in hospitals, but MRSA is a type of staph that cannot be killed by many antibiotics. It is found in bed linens and medical equipment and can be spread if health care providers do not properly wash their hands between patients.
    • Mount Sinai Medical Center score: 0.565
    • Best hospital score: 0.000
    • Average hospital score: 0.791
    • Worst hospital score: 2.863

    Mount Sinai Medical Center performed better than average in this category.

  • C. diff infection: C. diff is a bacterium that causes diarrhea, loss of appetite, fever and abdominal pain. C. diff occurs in patients who are taking antibiotics or have recently taken them. Like MRSA, C. diff is spread through contaminated equipment or health care providers not washing hands properly between patients.
    • Mount Sinai Medical Center score: 0.547
    • Best hospital score: 0.000
    • Average hospital score: 0.583
    • Worst hospital score: 1.737

    Mount Sinai Medical Center performed just a little better than average in this category.

Problems With Surgery

  • Dangerous objects left in patients’ bodies: This problem does not occur often, but when it does, it can be extremely dangerous. Most of the time, the object left in a patient’s body is a surgical sponge.
    • Mount Sinai Medical Center score: 0.000
    • Best hospital score: 0.000
    • Average hospital score: 0.017
    • Worst hospital score: 0.354

    Mount Sinai Medical Center did not report any cases of dangerous objects being left behind in patients’ bodies.

  • Surgical wounds split open: A surgical wound splitting open is very painful and places a patient at risk of infection.
    • Mount Sinai Medical Center score: 0.85
    • Best hospital score: 0.67
    • Average hospital score: 0.91
    • Worst hospital score: 1.20

    Mount Sinai performed better than average.

Practices To Prevent Errors

  • Doctor’s-order medication through a computer: Hospitals use computerized physicians order entry (CPOE) systems to order medications for patients in the hospital instead of writing prescriptions by hand. CPOE systems help reduce medication errors in hospitals.
    • Mount Sinai Medical Center score: 100
    • Best hospital score: 100
    • Average hospital score: 83.56
    • Worst hospital score: 5

    Mount Sinai Medical Center performed best in the category, with no errors reported.

  • Safe medication administration: Using bar codes on medications, nurses scan the medications and then the patient’s wrist bracelet to make sure that the patient is receiving the right medications. Bar code medication administration (BCMA) reduces the risk of a nurse accidentally giving the wrong medication to a patient.
    • Mount Sinai Medical Center score: 100
    • Best hospital score: 100
    • Average hospital score: 83.44
    • Worst hospital score: 5

    Mount Sinai Medical Center performed best in this category.

Safety Problems

  • Dangerous bed sores: Bed sores are wounds on the skin that form when a patient lays or sits in one position for too long without being moved. They can cause severe pain and serious infections.
    • Mount Sinai Medical Center score: 0.53
    • Best hospital score: 0.03
    • Average hospital score: 0.58
    • Worst hospital score: 2.78

    Mount Sinai Medical Center performed just a little better than average in this category.

  • Patient falls and injuries: Falls can occur when patients who really can’t walk try to get out of bed. Falls can result in longer spells in the hospital and can also result in permanent disability.
    • Mount Sinai Medical Center score: 0.609
    • Best hospital score: 0.000
    • Average hospital score: 0.432
    • Worst hospital score: 1.716

    Mount Sinai Medical Center performed below average in this category.

Doctors, Nurses And Hospital Staff

  • Effective leadership to prevent errors: Errors become much more common when hospital leaders do not make patient safety a priority. Leaders must make sure money is properly allotted toward enhancing safety measures.
    • Mount Sinai Medical Center score: 120
    • Best hospital score: 120
    • Average hospital score: 117.31
    • Worst hospital score: 9.23

    Mount Sinai Medical Center performed best in this category.

  • Enough qualified nurses: Patients receive most of their care from nurses, not doctors. If there is a shortage of qualified nurses, then patients might face more complications and longer stays in the hospital.
    • Mount Sinai Medical Center score: 100
    • Best hospital score: 100
    • Average hospital score: 98.37
    • Worst hospital score: 17.65

    Mount Sinai performed best in this category.

Leapfrog has given better than average ratings to Mount Sinai. For a hospital with a glorious past, the ratings are a testimony to the fact that the standards have declined at the hospital in recent times.

Healthgrades

Healthgrades has chosen Mount Sinai Medical Center for awards in numerous categories. Some of the awards are:

  • America’s Top 250 Best Hospital Award (2021, 2020)
  • Patient Safety Excellence Award (2021)
  • America’s 100 Best Hospitals for Gastrointestinal Care Award (2021, 2021)
  • America’s 100 Best Hospitals for General Surgery Award (2021, 2021)
  • America’s 100 Best Hospitals for Pulmonary Care Award (2021)
  • America’s 100 Best Hospitals for Prostate Surgery Award 2021, 2020)
  • Neuroscience Excellence Award (2021)
  • Pulmonary Excellence Award (2020)
  • Stroke Care Excellence Award (2019)

Safety Ratings

Three ratings were better than expected:

  • Hip fracture following surgery
  • Respiratory failure following surgery
  • Bloodstream infection following surgery

One rating was worse than expected:

  • Acute kidney dysfunction following surgery

Ten ratings were as expected.

No cases relating to foreign objects left in the body during a surgery or procedure were reported at the hospital.

Patient Experience

  • Patient Ratings
    • 72% of patients gave a rating of 9 or 10 (3% higher than the national average).
    • 75% said they would definitely recommend (5% higher than the national average).
  • Care Team Ratings
    • Communication With Doctors
      80% of patients said that doctors always listened to them and explained things well (1% lower than the national average of 81%).
    • Communication With Nurses
      77% of patients said that nurses always listened to them and explained things well (1% lower than the national average of 78%).
    • Communication About Medicines
      63% of patients said that staff members always explained medicines before they were given to them (same as the national average).
    • Discharge Information
      82% of patients were given information about recovering at home (2% lower than the national average of 84%).
    • Care Transition
      57% of patients said that they understood their care needs when they left the hospital (4% higher than the national average of 53%).
    • Responsiveness Of Hospital
      61% of patients said that they always received help quickly from hospital staff (5% lower than the national average of 66%).
  • Facility Report
    • Quietness
      66% of patients said that their rooms and the areas around them were always quiet at night (6% higher than national average of 60%).
    • Cleanliness
      76% of patients said that their rooms and bathrooms were always kept clean (3% higher than the national average of 73%).

Mount Sinai Medical Center won multiple awards from Healthgrades, and its patients gave the hospital a good rating, too, in Healthgrades surveys. Patient experience ratings of the hospital were on par with the national average of almost each parameter that is a component of the patient experience.

Contact Us For More Information

If you believe that inadequate care or negligence on the part of the medical staff at Mount Sinai Medical Center has negatively affected you or your loved one, then it is important to speak to an experienced medical malpractice lawyer. For more information on your legal options, contact Kaire & Heffernan, PLLC, by calling 305-376-7860 or reaching out to us online today.