USCareCheck

CMS certification 440057

Claiborne Medical Center

1850 Old Knoxville Highway, Tazewell, TN 37879

Acute Care Hospitals Emergency services

CMS does not publish an overall star rating for Claiborne Medical Center. 65% of patients who answered CMS's national survey would definitely recommend it, against a US average of 71%. Of the 8 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 2 h 6 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 65% US average 71%
Patient survey rating 4/5 147 completed surveys
Compared with the nation 1 worse 0 better of 8 measures CMS could compare

What patients said

Answers from patients who stayed here, collected by CMS in the national HCAHPS survey: 147 completed surveys, 22% response rate, Oct 2024 – Sep 2025.

Would definitely recommend the hospital
65%
TN 70% · US 71% · 4 of 5 stars
Rated the hospital 9 or 10 out of 10
70%
TN 71% · US 72% · 3 of 5 stars
Nurses always communicated well
88%
TN 80% · US 80% · 5 of 5 stars
Doctors always communicated well
91%
TN 81% · US 80% · 5 of 5 stars
Staff always explained new medicines
63%
TN 62% · US 62% · 3 of 5 stars
Given information about recovering at home
86%
TN 86% · US 86% · 3 of 5 stars
Room was always clean
87%
TN 72% · US 74% · 5 of 5 stars
Always quiet at night
59%
TN 63% · US 60% · 4 of 5 stars

This hospital Tennessee 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 TN US
Median time in the emergency department before leaving Lower is better · 456 visits sampled · US median for EDs of the same volume: 2 h 3 min 2 h 6 min 2 h 42 min 2 h 42 min
Median time for psychiatric and mental health patients Lower is better · 20 visits sampled 3 h 13 min 5 h 8 min 4 h 17 min
Left before being seen Lower is better · 13,671 patients 2% 3% 2%
Severe sepsis and septic shock: all recommended care given Higher is better · 187 patients 52% 59% 65%

How Claiborne 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
Claiborne Medical CenterThis hospitalNot rated65%2 h 6 min1 worse
Sweetwater Hospital AssociationSame ZIP area · Sweetwater1/567%3 h 2 min2 worse
Leconte Medical CenterSame ZIP area · Sevierville5/570%3 h 20 min2 better
Hawkins County Memorial HospitalSame ZIP area · RogersvilleNot rated75%1 h 53 min1 better
Physicians Regional Medical CenterSame ZIP area · Powell3/566%3 h 16 min3 better 3 worse
Methodist Medical Center of Oak RidgeSame ZIP area · Oak Ridge4/571%3 h 6 min2 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 377 cases Too few cases 5% 3.9%
Pneumonia 59 cases Too few cases 22.6% 15.2%
Stroke 31 cases Too few cases 12% 11.9%

4 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.

7 no different
Measure CMS comparison This hospital National
Serious complications, combined measure No different 0.97 likely 0.47 – 1.47 1
Pressure ulcers (bed sores) 281 cases No different 0.55 per 1,000 likely 0 per 1,000 – 1.82 per 1,000 0.63 per 1,000
Collapsed lung caused by a procedure 561 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 552 cases No different 0.27 per 1,000 likely 0.05 per 1,000 – 0.48 per 1,000 0.27 per 1,000
Bleeding or hematoma after surgery 41 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 46 cases No different 3.42 per 1,000 likely 0.81 per 1,000 – 6.04 per 1,000 3.52 per 1,000
Accidental cut or tear during abdominal surgery 45 cases No different 1.05 per 1,000 likely 0 per 1,000 – 2.14 per 1,000 1.06 per 1,000

6 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 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.

1 no different
Measure CMS comparison This hospital National
Readmitted after heart failure 65 cases Too few cases 21.7% 21.3%
Readmitted after pneumonia 175 cases Too few cases 17.9% 17.3%
Readmitted after COPD 31 cases Too few cases 19.7% 20%
Days back in hospital after heart failure 31 cases Too few cases 94.7 days per 100 —
Days back in hospital after pneumonia 79 cases Too few cases 6.5 days per 100 —
Unplanned visits after an outpatient colonoscopy 171 cases No different 12.6 per 1,000 likely 9.3 per 1,000 – 17.1 per 1,000 13 per 1,000

8 more measures had too few cases here to report.

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 Claiborne Medical Center

Is Claiborne Medical Center a good hospital?

CMS does not publish an overall star rating for Claiborne Medical Center. Of the 8 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.

Would patients recommend Claiborne Medical Center?

65% of patients who answered CMS's national survey would definitely recommend it, against a US average of 71%. The figure comes from 147 completed HCAHPS surveys.

How long is the wait in the Claiborne Medical Center emergency room?

Emergency patients spend a median of 2 h 6 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.