CMS certification 060096
Vail Health Hospital
181 W Meadow Dr, Vail, CO 81657
Vail Health Hospital has a CMS overall rating of 5 out of 5 stars. 83% of patients who answered CMS's national survey would definitely recommend it, against a US average of 71%. On all 14 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 21 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: 309 completed surveys, 25% response rate, 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 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 | CO | US |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median time in the emergency department before leaving Lower is better · 411 visits sampled · US median for EDs of the same volume: 2 h 3 min | 2 h 21 min | 2 h 14 min | 2 h 42 min |
| Median time for psychiatric and mental health patients Lower is better · 18 visits sampled | 5 h 4 min | 3 h 55 min | 4 h 17 min |
| Left before being seen Lower is better · 13,281 patients | 1% | 1% | 2% |
| Severe sepsis and septic shock: all recommended care given Higher is better · 41 patients | 83% | 72% | 65% |
How Vail Health Hospital 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vail Health HospitalThis hospital | 5/5 | 83% | 2 h 21 min | No different |
| Grand River Hospital DistrictSame ZIP area · Rifle | Not rated | 78% | 1 h 50 min | No different |
| Eastern Rio Blanco County Health Service DistrictSame ZIP area · Meeker | Not rated | 87% | 3 h 28 min | No different |
| Memorial Hospital, theSame ZIP area · Craig | Not rated | 68% | 2 h 2 min | No different |
| Aspen Valley Hospital DistrictSame ZIP area · Aspen | Not rated | 81% | — | 1 better |
| Valley View Hospital AssociationSame ZIP area · Glenwood Springs | 4/5 | 81% | 2 h 32 min | 2 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 396 cases | Too few cases | 3.6% | 3.9% |
| Heart attack 26 cases | Too few cases | 11.2% | 11.9% |
| Heart failure 40 cases | Too few cases | 9.8% | 11.1% |
| Pneumonia 68 cases | Too few cases | 11.8% | 15.2% |
3 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.
| Measure | CMS comparison | This hospital | National |
|---|---|---|---|
| Serious complications, combined measure | No different | 0.87 likely 0.41 – 1.33 | 1 |
| After hip or knee replacement 26 cases | Too few cases | 3.7% | 4.1% |
| Pressure ulcers (bed sores) 423 cases | No different | 0.51 per 1,000 likely 0 per 1,000 – 1.72 per 1,000 | 0.63 per 1,000 |
| Collapsed lung caused by a procedure 845 cases | No different | 0.26 per 1,000 likely 0.03 per 1,000 – 0.49 per 1,000 | 0.21 per 1,000 |
| Broken bones from falls in the hospital 792 cases | No different | 0.26 per 1,000 likely 0.05 per 1,000 – 0.48 per 1,000 | 0.27 per 1,000 |
| Bleeding or hematoma after surgery 447 cases | No different | 2.47 per 1,000 likely 0.8 per 1,000 – 4.14 per 1,000 | 2.34 per 1,000 |
| Kidney injury needing dialysis after surgery 342 cases | No different | 1.59 per 1,000 likely 0 per 1,000 – 3.27 per 1,000 | 1.67 per 1,000 |
| Breathing failure after surgery 342 cases | No different | 6.41 per 1,000 likely 0 per 1,000 – 14.83 per 1,000 | 9.42 per 1,000 |
| Blood clots in the lungs or legs after surgery 457 cases | No different | 3.88 per 1,000 likely 1.43 per 1,000 – 6.32 per 1,000 | 3.52 per 1,000 |
| Sepsis after surgery 316 cases | No different | 4.28 per 1,000 likely 0.35 per 1,000 – 8.2 per 1,000 | 5.27 per 1,000 |
| Surgical wound splitting open 109 cases | No different | 1.74 per 1,000 likely 0.22 per 1,000 – 3.26 per 1,000 | 1.77 per 1,000 |
| Accidental cut or tear during abdominal surgery 158 cases | No different | 1.02 per 1,000 likely 0 per 1,000 – 2.09 per 1,000 | 1.06 per 1,000 |
1 more measure had too few cases here to report.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| C. diff intestinal infections | Better | 0 | 1 |
5 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.
| Measure | CMS comparison | This hospital | National |
|---|---|---|---|
| Readmitted after a heart attack 28 cases | Too few cases | 13.8% | 14.4% |
| Readmitted after heart failure 29 cases | Too few cases | 21.2% | 21.3% |
| Readmitted after pneumonia 61 cases | Too few cases | 17.4% | 17.3% |
| Days back in hospital after heart failure 42 cases | Too few cases | 7.6 days per 100 | — |
| Days back in hospital after pneumonia 69 cases | Too few cases | -3 days per 100 | — |
| Unplanned visits after an outpatient colonoscopy 124 cases | No different | 13.2 per 1,000 likely 9.7 per 1,000 – 18.2 per 1,000 | 13 per 1,000 |
| Hospital admissions during outpatient chemotherapy 114 cases | No different | 9.3 per 100 likely 6.5 per 100 – 13.3 per 100 | 10.7 per 100 |
| ER visits during outpatient chemotherapy 114 cases | No different | 5.4 per 100 likely 3.6 per 100 – 8.2 per 100 | 5.4 per 100 |
| Unplanned visits after outpatient surgery 714 cases | No different | 1.2 likely 1 – 1.6 | — |
5 more measures had too few cases here to report.
Clinicians registered at this address
246 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 |
|---|---|
| Physical Therapist | 71 |
| Physician Assistant | 23 |
| Orthopaedic Surgery | 21 |
| Occupational Therapist | 15 |
| Sports Medicine | 14 |
| Athletic Trainer | 12 |
| Emergency Medicine | 12 |
| Surgical | 11 |
| Anesthesiology | 8 |
| Internal Medicine | 7 |
| Orthopedic | 7 |
| Nurse Anesthetist, Certified Registered | 5 |
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 Vail Health Hospital
Is Vail Health Hospital a good hospital?
Vail Health Hospital has a CMS overall rating of 5 out of 5 stars. On all 14 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 Vail Health Hospital?
83% of patients who answered CMS's national survey would definitely recommend it, against a US average of 71%. The figure comes from 309 completed HCAHPS surveys.
How long is the wait in the Vail Health Hospital emergency room?
Emergency patients spend a median of 2 h 21 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. 1% of emergency patients left before being seen (US 2%). These are medians over a year of visits, not a live wait time.