USCareCheck

CMS certification 321310

Holy Cross Hospital a Div of Taos Health Systems

1397 Weimer Road, Taos, NM 87571

Critical Access Hospitals Emergency services Birthing-friendly

Holy Cross Hospital a Div of Taos Health Systems has a CMS overall rating of 1 out of 5 stars. 62% of patients who answered CMS's national survey would definitely recommend it, against a US average of 71%. Of the 10 death, complication, infection and readmission measures CMS could compare, it does better than the nation on 1 and worse on none. Emergency patients spend a median of 1 h 32 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 1/5 CMS summary of quality measures
Would definitely recommend 62% US average 71%
Patient survey rating 4/5 169 completed surveys
Compared with the nation 0 worse 1 better of 10 measures CMS could compare

What patients said

Answers from patients who stayed here, collected by CMS in the national HCAHPS survey: 169 completed surveys, 21% response rate, Oct 2024 – Sep 2025.

Would definitely recommend the hospital
62%
NM 66% · US 71% · 3 of 5 stars
Rated the hospital 9 or 10 out of 10
65%
NM 69% · US 72% · 3 of 5 stars
Nurses always communicated well
81%
NM 78% · US 80% · 4 of 5 stars
Doctors always communicated well
82%
NM 78% · US 80% · 4 of 5 stars
Staff always explained new medicines
65%
NM 62% · US 62% · 4 of 5 stars
Given information about recovering at home
83%
NM 83% · US 86% · 3 of 5 stars
Room was always clean
71%
NM 72% · US 74% · 4 of 5 stars
Always quiet at night
63%
NM 60% · US 60% · 4 of 5 stars

This hospital New Mexico 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 NM US
Median time in the emergency department before leaving Lower is better · 396 visits sampled · US median for EDs of the same volume: 2 h 3 min 1 h 32 min 2 h 43 min 2 h 42 min
Median time for psychiatric and mental health patients Lower is better · 20 visits sampled 52 min 4 h 34 min 4 h 17 min
Left before being seen Lower is better · 18,435 patients 3% 3% 2%
Stroke symptoms: brain scan read within 45 minutes Higher is better · 19 patients 95% 50% 69%
Severe sepsis and septic shock: all recommended care given Higher is better · 93 patients 94% 54% 65%

How Holy Cross Hospital a Div of Taos Health Systems 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
Holy Cross Hospital a Div of Taos Health SystemsThis hospital1/562%1 h 32 min1 better
Los Alamos Medical CenterSame ZIP area · Los AlamosNot rated69%2 h 48 minNo different
Presbyterian Espanola HospitalSame ZIP area · EspanolaNot rated80%2 h 48 min1 better
Presbyterian Santa Fe Medical CenterSame ZIP area · Santa Fe5/575%3 h 45 min1 better
CHRISTUS St Vincent Regional Medical CenterSame ZIP area · Santa Fe4/571%2 h 53 min6 better 1 worse

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 346 cases Too few cases 4.3% 3.9%
Heart failure 47 cases Too few cases 11.3% 11.1%
Pneumonia 86 cases Too few cases 14.6% 15.2%
Stroke 28 cases Too few cases 12.9% 11.9%

3 more measures 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.

1 no different
Measure CMS comparison This hospital National
C. diff intestinal infections No different 0.56 likely 0.03 – 2.77 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.

2 no different
Measure CMS comparison This hospital National
Readmitted after heart failure 86 cases Too few cases 20.1% 21.3%
Readmitted after pneumonia 106 cases Too few cases 17.1% 17.3%
Readmitted after COPD 28 cases Too few cases 19.4% 20%
Days back in hospital after heart failure 52 cases Too few cases 0.7 days per 100 —
Days back in hospital after pneumonia 87 cases Too few cases -15.7 days per 100 —
Unplanned visits after an outpatient colonoscopy 555 cases No different 12.5 per 1,000 likely 9.2 per 1,000 – 16.6 per 1,000 13 per 1,000
Unplanned visits after outpatient surgery 157 cases No different 1.1 likely 0.8 – 1.5 —

7 more measures had too few cases here to report.

Not reported for this hospital

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

Clinicians registered at this address

48 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
Nurse Anesthetist, Certified Registered 5
Pharmacist 5
Diagnostic Radiology 4
Family Medicine 4
Dietitian, Registered 3
Emergency Medicine 3
Pediatrics 3
Pharmacist Clinician (PhC)/ Clinical Pharmacy Specialist 3
Physician Assistant 3
Family 2
Internal Medicine 2
Pharmacotherapy 2

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 Holy Cross Hospital a Div of Taos Health Systems

Is Holy Cross Hospital a Div of Taos Health Systems a good hospital?

Holy Cross Hospital a Div of Taos Health Systems has a CMS overall rating of 1 out of 5 stars. Of the 10 death, complication, infection and readmission measures CMS could compare, it does better than the nation on 1 and worse on none. These are hospital-wide results published by CMS; they do not rate individual doctors or departments.

Would patients recommend Holy Cross Hospital a Div of Taos Health Systems?

62% of patients who answered CMS's national survey would definitely recommend it, against a US average of 71%. The figure comes from 169 completed HCAHPS surveys.

How long is the wait in the Holy Cross Hospital a Div of Taos Health Systems emergency room?

Emergency patients spend a median of 1 h 32 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. 3% of emergency patients left before being seen (US 2%). These are medians over a year of visits, not a live wait time.