CMS certification 521359
Tamarack Health Ashland Medical Center
1615 Maple Lane, Ashland, WI 54806
Tamarack Health Ashland Medical Center has a CMS overall rating of 3 out of 5 stars. 82% of patients who answered CMS's national survey would definitely recommend it, against a US average of 71%. Of the 13 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 4 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: 260 completed surveys, 24% 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 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 | WI | US |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median time in the emergency department before leaving Lower is better · 367 visits sampled · US median for EDs of the same volume: 2 h 45 min | 2 h 4 min | 2 h 17 min | 2 h 42 min |
| Median time for psychiatric and mental health patients Lower is better · 24 visits sampled | 2 h 53 min | 3 h 23 min | 4 h 17 min |
| Left before being seen Lower is better · 21,716 patients | 1% | 2% | 2% |
| Stroke symptoms: brain scan read within 45 minutes Higher is better · 13 patients | 85% | 74% | 69% |
| Severe sepsis and septic shock: all recommended care given Higher is better · 59 patients | 27% | 72% | 65% |
How Tamarack Health Ashland 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tamarack Health Ashland Medical CenterThis hospital | 3/5 | 82% | 2 h 4 min | 1 worse |
| Spooner Health SystemSame ZIP area · Spooner | 5/5 | 86% | 1 h 49 min | No different |
| Mayo Clinic Health System-NorthlandSame ZIP area · Barron | 4/5 | 79% | 1 h 49 min | 1 worse |
| Cumberland Memorial HospitalSame ZIP area · Cumberland | Not rated | 86% | 1 h 59 min | No different |
| Burnett Medical CenterSame ZIP area · Grantsburg | Not rated | 66% | — | No different |
| Tamarack Health Hayward Medical CenterSame ZIP area · Hayward | 4/5 | 80% | 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 424 cases | Too few cases | 4.1% | 3.9% |
| Heart failure 39 cases | Too few cases | 13.4% | 11.1% |
| Pneumonia 85 cases | Too few cases | 16.8% | 15.2% |
| COPD 47 cases | Too few cases | 8.9% | 8.6% |
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.
| Measure | CMS comparison | This hospital | National |
|---|---|---|---|
| C. diff intestinal infections | No different | 0.6 likely 0.1 – 1.99 | 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 heart failure 67 cases | Too few cases | 20.8% | 21.3% |
| Readmitted after pneumonia 126 cases | Too few cases | 16.8% | 17.3% |
| Readmitted after COPD 63 cases | Too few cases | 20% | 20% |
| Days back in hospital after heart failure 48 cases | Too few cases | 2.2 days per 100 | — |
| Days back in hospital after pneumonia 94 cases | Too few cases | 17.9 days per 100 | — |
| Unplanned visits after an outpatient colonoscopy 124 cases | No different | 12.9 per 1,000 likely 9.6 per 1,000 – 17.8 per 1,000 | 13 per 1,000 |
| Hospital admissions during outpatient chemotherapy 127 cases | No different | 9.4 per 100 likely 6.8 per 100 – 12.8 per 100 | 10.7 per 100 |
| ER visits during outpatient chemotherapy 127 cases | Worse | 8.5 per 100 likely 6 per 100 – 12 per 100 | 5.4 per 100 |
6 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
93 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 |
|---|---|
| Family | 13 |
| Family Medicine | 11 |
| Nurse Anesthetist, Certified Registered | 10 |
| Physician Assistant | 9 |
| Registered Nurse | 6 |
| Adult Health | 4 |
| Addiction (Substance Use Disorder) | 3 |
| Gastroenterology | 3 |
| Orthopaedic Surgery | 3 |
| Addiction Medicine | 2 |
| Clinical | 2 |
| Dietitian, Registered | 2 |
First 12 alphabetically
Money from drug and device companies
Drug and device makers have to report what they pay teaching hospitals to CMS's Open Payments program. At many teaching hospitals most of it is research funding, or royalties for inventions the hospital licensed to a company. A payment on its own does not show a conflict of interest.
- 2023 $52,328
- 2024 $19,660
- 2025 $8,974
Largest paying companies, 2025
| Company | Amount | Payments |
|---|---|---|
| Smith+Nephew, Inc. | $8,974 | 6 |
Largest research studies funded here, 2025
| Study | Amount |
|---|---|
| A Prospective MultiCenter PreMarket Clinical Study to Evaluate the Performance of the REAL INTELLIGENCE Tensioner as an Accessory to the CORI Surgica… Smith+Nephew, Inc. | $7,724 |
| Prospective Multi-Center Post-market Clinical Follow-up Study to Evaluate Safety and Performance of the Microraptor Regenesorb Suture Anchor and MICR… Smith+Nephew, Inc. | $1,250 |
Amounts are as the paying companies reported them to CMS; Open Payments data retrieved 13 Sep 2026. Full record on CMS Open Payments.
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 Tamarack Health Ashland Medical Center
Is Tamarack Health Ashland Medical Center a good hospital?
Tamarack Health Ashland Medical Center has a CMS overall rating of 3 out of 5 stars. Of the 13 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 Tamarack Health Ashland Medical Center?
82% of patients who answered CMS's national survey would definitely recommend it, against a US average of 71%. The figure comes from 260 completed HCAHPS surveys.
How long is the wait in the Tamarack Health Ashland Medical Center emergency room?
Emergency patients spend a median of 2 h 4 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.
Does Tamarack Health Ashland Medical Center receive money from drug and device companies?
Drug and device makers reported $8,974 in payments to Tamarack Health Ashland Medical Center for 2025, most of it research funding, under the federal Open Payments program. A payment on its own does not show a conflict of interest.