USCareCheck

CMS certification 040019

Forrest City Medical Center

1601 Newcastle Road, Forrest City, AR 72335

Acute Care Hospitals Emergency services Birthing-friendly

CMS does not publish an overall star rating for Forrest City Medical Center. 58% of patients who answered CMS's national survey would definitely recommend it, against a US average of 71%. On all 6 death, complication, infection and readmission measures CMS could compare, it is no different from the national rate. Emergency patients spend a median of 2 h 30 min in its emergency department before leaving (US median 2 h 42 min).

Every figure on this page is published by CMS; we arrange and explain it, and score nothing ourselves.

CMS overall rating Not rated There are too few measures or measure groups reported to calculate a star rating or measure group score.
Would definitely recommend 58% US average 71%
Patient survey rating 4/5 107 completed surveys
Compared with the nation 0 worse 0 better of 6 measures CMS could compare

What patients said

Answers from patients who stayed here, collected by CMS in the national HCAHPS survey: 107 completed surveys, 10% response rate, Oct 2024 – Sep 2025.

Would definitely recommend the hospital
58%
AR 71% · US 71% · 3 of 5 stars
Rated the hospital 9 or 10 out of 10
69%
AR 73% · US 72% · 3 of 5 stars
Nurses always communicated well
83%
AR 81% · US 80% · 4 of 5 stars
Doctors always communicated well
87%
AR 82% · US 80% · 4 of 5 stars
Staff always explained new medicines
73%
AR 64% · US 62% · 4 of 5 stars
Given information about recovering at home
79%
AR 85% · US 86% · 2 of 5 stars
Room was always clean
80%
AR 74% · US 74% · 4 of 5 stars
Always quiet at night
78%
AR 66% · US 60% · 5 of 5 stars

This hospital Arkansas average US average

Emergency department

How long emergency patients spent here and how some time-critical care went, from CMS's timely and effective care measures, Oct 2024 – Sep 2025. CMS classes this emergency department's patient volume as low; busier departments tend to have longer times, so the national median for departments of the same volume is shown too. These are medians over a year of visits, not a live wait time.

Measure This hospital AR US
Median time in the emergency department before leaving Lower is better · 378 visits sampled · US median for EDs of the same volume: 2 h 3 min 2 h 30 min 2 h 30 min 2 h 42 min
Median time for psychiatric and mental health patients Lower is better · 15 visits sampled 3 h 33 min 3 h 46 min 4 h 17 min
Left before being seen Lower is better · 17,492 patients 2% 2% 2%
Stroke symptoms: brain scan read within 45 minutes Higher is better · 12 patients 42% 72% 69%
Severe sepsis and septic shock: all recommended care given Higher is better · 120 patients 90% 68% 65%

How Forrest City Medical Center compares with nearby hospitals

The closest hospitals of the same kind that CMS rates or surveys - the same city first, then the same county and ZIP area. Every figure is CMS's: the overall star rating, the share of patients who would definitely recommend the hospital, the median time emergency patients spent before leaving, and how many death, complication, infection and readmission measures CMS found better or worse than the national rate.

Hospital CMS stars Would recommend ER median time Vs the nation
Forrest City Medical CenterThis hospitalNot rated58%2 h 30 minNo different
Great River Medical CenterSame ZIP area · Blytheville2/556%2 h 10 min1 worse
Baptist Memorial Hospital-Crittenden, INCSame ZIP area · West MemphisNot rated78%2 h 19 min1 better
Crossridge Community HospitalSame ZIP area · WynneNot rated67%1 h 45 minNo different

Hospitals differ in size and in how sick their patients are. CMS adjusts its outcome measures for that, but a star or a percentage is a starting point for questions, not a verdict.

Deaths

How many patients died within 30 days of admission, adjusted by CMS for how sick they were. Lower is better. Data from Jul 2022 – Jun 2025.

Measure CMS comparison This hospital National
All patients, hospital-wide 178 cases Too few cases 4.9% 3.9%
Pneumonia 60 cases Too few cases 17.8% 15.2%

5 more measures had too few cases here to report.

Complications

How often patients had serious complications, most of them after surgery, adjusted for how sick they were. Lower is better. Data from Jul 2022 – Jun 2024.

6 no different
Measure CMS comparison This hospital National
Serious complications, combined measure No different 0.98 likely 0.47 – 1.48 1
Pressure ulcers (bed sores) 163 cases No different 0.58 per 1,000 likely 0 per 1,000 – 1.87 per 1,000 0.63 per 1,000
Collapsed lung caused by a procedure 292 cases No different 0.21 per 1,000 likely 0 per 1,000 – 0.44 per 1,000 0.21 per 1,000
Broken bones from falls in the hospital 286 cases No different 0.27 per 1,000 likely 0.05 per 1,000 – 0.49 per 1,000 0.27 per 1,000
Bleeding or hematoma after surgery 29 cases No different 2.33 per 1,000 likely 0.59 per 1,000 – 4.06 per 1,000 2.34 per 1,000
Blood clots in the lungs or legs after surgery 28 cases No different 3.48 per 1,000 likely 0.84 per 1,000 – 6.11 per 1,000 3.52 per 1,000

7 more measures had too few cases here to report.

Readmissions and return visits

How often patients had to come back to a hospital after going home. Lower is better. Data from Jul 2023 – Jun 2025.

2 no different
Measure CMS comparison This hospital National
Readmitted after heart failure 35 cases Too few cases 20.8% 21.3%
Readmitted after pneumonia 80 cases Too few cases 17.3% 17.3%
Days back in hospital after pneumonia 52 cases Too few cases 14.8 days per 100 —
Unplanned visits after an outpatient colonoscopy 172 cases No different 12.5 per 1,000 likely 9.2 per 1,000 – 16.8 per 1,000 13 per 1,000
Unplanned visits after outpatient surgery 36 cases No different 1 likely 0.7 – 1.4 —

9 more measures had too few cases here to report.

Not reported for this hospital

CMS had too few cases here to publish results for infections caught in the hospital. That is common at small, rural and specialty hospitals, and says nothing either way about quality.

How to read this page

  • Everything here is published by CMS on Care Compare. We arrange it and explain it; the star ratings and the better / worse verdicts are CMS's, not ours.
  • “No different” is the most common result on most measures at most hospitals. CMS only calls a result better or worse when the difference from the national rate is statistically clear.
  • Death, complication and readmission rates are adjusted by CMS for how sick patients were, so hospitals that treat sicker patients can be compared fairly.
  • Infection results are ratios: 1.0 means as many infections as CMS predicted for a hospital like this one, below 1.0 is fewer.
  • These are hospital-wide results. They do not rate an individual doctor, nurse or department, and they are not medical advice.

CMS Care Compare data retrieved 4 Oct 2026, refreshed weekly. Where this data comes from and how we handle it · Report an error

Common questions about Forrest City Medical Center

Is Forrest City Medical Center a good hospital?

CMS does not publish an overall star rating for Forrest City Medical Center. On all 6 death, complication, infection and readmission measures CMS could compare, it is no different from the national rate. These are hospital-wide results published by CMS; they do not rate individual doctors or departments.

Would patients recommend Forrest City Medical Center?

58% of patients who answered CMS's national survey would definitely recommend it, against a US average of 71%. The figure comes from 107 completed HCAHPS surveys.

How long is the wait in the Forrest City Medical Center emergency room?

Emergency patients spend a median of 2 h 30 min in its emergency department before leaving (US median 2 h 42 min). Among US emergency departments with low patient volume, like this one, the median is 2 h 3 min. 2% of emergency patients left before being seen (US 2%). These are medians over a year of visits, not a live wait time.