CMS certification 050551
UCI Health - Los Alamitos
3751 Katella Avenue, Los Alamitos, CA 90720
UCI Health - Los Alamitos has a CMS overall rating of 1 out of 5 stars. Of the 21 death, complication, infection and readmission measures CMS could compare, it does better than the nation on none and worse on 1. Emergency patients spend a median of 3 h 58 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.
What patients said
Answers from patients who stayed here, collected by CMS in the national HCAHPS survey: Oct 2024 – Sep 2025.
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 medium; 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 | CA | US |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median time in the emergency department before leaving Lower is better · 341 visits sampled · US median for EDs of the same volume: 2 h 45 min | 3 h 58 min | 2 h 54 min | 2 h 42 min |
| Left before being seen Lower is better · 36,003 patients | 1% | 2% | 2% |
| Severe sepsis and septic shock: all recommended care given Higher is better · 243 patients | 59% | 70% | 65% |
How UCI Health - Los Alamitos 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| UCI Health - Los AlamitosThis hospital | 1/5 | — | 3 h 58 min | 1 worse |
| La Palma Intercommunity HospitalSame county · La Palma | 3/5 | 55% | 3 h 24 min | 3 better |
| Hoag Orthopedic InstituteSame county · Irvine | Not rated | 86% | — | 1 worse |
| Huntington Beach HospitalSame county · Huntington Beach | 1/5 | 52% | 2 h 38 min | 2 worse |
| Memorialcare Saddleback Medical CenterSame county · Laguna Hills | 4/5 | 74% | 3 h 26 min | 2 better |
| Hoag Memorial Hospital PresbyterianSame county · Newport Beach | 5/5 | 84% | 3 h 14 min | 6 better |
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 2,782 cases | Too few cases | 3.6% | 3.9% |
| Heart attack 113 cases | Too few cases | 14.1% | 11.9% |
| Heart failure 281 cases | Too few cases | 9.7% | 11.1% |
| Pneumonia 359 cases | Too few cases | 13.8% | 15.2% |
| Stroke 391 cases | Too few cases | 10.9% | 11.9% |
| COPD 70 cases | Too few cases | 9.1% | 8.6% |
1 more measure 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.
| Measure | CMS comparison | This hospital | National |
|---|---|---|---|
| Serious complications, combined measure | No different | 1.19 likely 0.81 – 1.57 | 1 |
| After hip or knee replacement 53 cases | Too few cases | 5.4% | 4.1% |
| Deaths after a serious but treatable surgical complication 62 cases | No different | 180.27 per 1,000 likely 133.69 per 1,000 – 226.85 per 1,000 | 173.3 per 1,000 |
| Pressure ulcers (bed sores) 4,215 cases | No different | 0.62 per 1,000 likely 0 per 1,000 – 1.34 per 1,000 | 0.63 per 1,000 |
| Collapsed lung caused by a procedure 4,810 cases | No different | 0.22 per 1,000 likely 0.01 per 1,000 – 0.42 per 1,000 | 0.21 per 1,000 |
| Broken bones from falls in the hospital 4,741 cases | No different | 0.3 per 1,000 likely 0.1 per 1,000 – 0.5 per 1,000 | 0.27 per 1,000 |
| Bleeding or hematoma after surgery 845 cases | No different | 2.78 per 1,000 likely 1.19 per 1,000 – 4.36 per 1,000 | 2.34 per 1,000 |
| Kidney injury needing dialysis after surgery 99 cases | No different | 1.64 per 1,000 likely 0 per 1,000 – 3.36 per 1,000 | 1.67 per 1,000 |
| Breathing failure after surgery 100 cases | No different | 13.55 per 1,000 likely 3.93 per 1,000 – 23.18 per 1,000 | 9.42 per 1,000 |
| Blood clots in the lungs or legs after surgery 827 cases | No different | 4.83 per 1,000 likely 2.57 per 1,000 – 7.09 per 1,000 | 3.52 per 1,000 |
| Sepsis after surgery 75 cases | No different | 5.93 per 1,000 likely 1.68 per 1,000 – 10.18 per 1,000 | 5.27 per 1,000 |
| Surgical wound splitting open 197 cases | No different | 1.64 per 1,000 likely 0.16 per 1,000 – 3.12 per 1,000 | 1.77 per 1,000 |
| Accidental cut or tear during abdominal surgery 807 cases | No different | 0.89 per 1,000 likely 0 per 1,000 – 1.9 per 1,000 | 1.06 per 1,000 |
Infections caught in the hospital
Standardized infection ratio: 1.0 means as many infections as CMS predicted for a hospital like this one. Lower is better. Data from Oct 2024 – Sep 2025.
| Measure | CMS comparison | This hospital | National |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bloodstream infections from central lines (CLABSI) | No different | 1.76 likely 0.56 – 4.23 | 1 |
| Urinary tract infections from catheters (CAUTI) | No different | 0.87 likely 0.28 – 2.1 | 1 |
| Surgical site infections after colon surgery | No different | 0.85 likely 0.14 – 2.81 | 1 |
| MRSA bloodstream infections | No different | 1.73 likely 0.7 – 3.61 | 1 |
| C. diff intestinal infections | Better | 0.35 likely 0.16 – 0.67 | 1 |
1 more measure 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.
| Measure | CMS comparison | This hospital | National |
|---|---|---|---|
| Readmitted after a heart attack 173 cases | Too few cases | 15.4% | 14.4% |
| Readmitted after heart failure 509 cases | Too few cases | 19.3% | 21.3% |
| Readmitted after pneumonia 559 cases | Too few cases | 16.5% | 17.3% |
| Readmitted after COPD 114 cases | Too few cases | 21.1% | 20% |
| Readmitted after hip or knee replacement 55 cases | Too few cases | 6.4% | 5.8% |
| Days back in hospital after a heart attack 92 cases | Too few cases | -11.3 days per 100 | — |
| Days back in hospital after heart failure 297 cases | Too few cases | 15.5 days per 100 | — |
| Days back in hospital after pneumonia 371 cases | Too few cases | 24.9 days per 100 | — |
| Unplanned visits after an outpatient colonoscopy 805 cases | No different | 12.4 per 1,000 likely 9.3 per 1,000 – 16.3 per 1,000 | 13 per 1,000 |
| Hospital admissions during outpatient chemotherapy 32 cases | No different | 9.9 per 100 likely 6.8 per 100 – 14.2 per 100 | 10.7 per 100 |
| ER visits during outpatient chemotherapy 32 cases | No different | 5 per 100 likely 3.1 per 100 – 8 per 100 | 5.4 per 100 |
| Unplanned visits after outpatient surgery 261 cases | No different | 0.9 likely 0.7 – 1.3 | — |
2 more measures had too few cases here to report.
Clinicians registered at this address
56 clinicians give this hospital's street address as their practice location in NPPES, the federal provider registry. The same address can take in offices and clinics in the building, and a listing does not prove admitting privileges or current employment.
| Specialty | Clinicians |
|---|---|
| Emergency Medicine | 19 |
| Anesthesiology | 12 |
| Diagnostic Radiology | 5 |
| Anatomic Pathology & Clinical Pathology | 4 |
| Acute Care | 3 |
| Pharmacist | 2 |
| Physician Assistant | 2 |
| Registered Nurse First Assistant | 2 |
| Vascular & Interventional Radiology | 2 |
| Adult Health | 1 |
| Clinical | 1 |
| Family Medicine | 1 |
First 12 alphabetically
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 UCI Health - Los Alamitos
Is UCI Health - Los Alamitos a good hospital?
UCI Health - Los Alamitos has a CMS overall rating of 1 out of 5 stars. Of the 21 death, complication, infection and readmission measures CMS could compare, it does better than the nation on none and worse on 1. These are hospital-wide results published by CMS; they do not rate individual doctors or departments.
How long is the wait in the UCI Health - Los Alamitos emergency room?
Emergency patients spend a median of 3 h 58 min in its emergency department before leaving (US median 2 h 42 min). Among US emergency departments with medium patient volume, like this one, the median is 2 h 45 min. 1% of emergency patients left before being seen (US 2%). These are medians over a year of visits, not a live wait time.