TOLEDO, Ohio — The University of Toledo Medical Center has received a four-star rating from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, an honor that about 900 hospitals have earned nationwide.
The honor is notable because it wasn't too long ago that many didn't expect the south Toledo hospital to keep its doors open.
Phil Mariasy, a local communications executive and member of the Save UTMC coalition said Wednesday that advocates were concerned in 2020 about what the loss of UTMC would mean to the neighborhood that has already lost its YMCA branch and Southwyck Mall.
"That would have been a serious blight in an already challenged part of Toledo," Mariasy said.
UTMC's Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Michael Ellis, said the center did not earn the rating overnight.
He said it was through refocusing the entire crew's mindset on the patients, and the importance of all-around care over the last five years.
UTMC faced an uncertain fate two years ago, however. University of Toledo officials announced in April, 2020, that because the medical center had incurred large financial losses and faced big budget deficits in the future, the university would request bids to buy, lease, or manage UTMC.
The only known bidder to come forward was ProMedica, the regional health-care giant that UTMC supporters blamed primarily for the financial difficulties at UTMC. The then 5-year-old affiliation agreement between UTMC and ProMedica had drained away medical students and residents, medical staff, and patients, UTMC supporters claimed.
These supporters organized Save UTMC in 2020, which lobbied lawmakers to block any sale of the hospital, pressured the University of Toledo to restore services, and rallied neighbors to join the campaign to save UTMC.
In July, 2020, university officials announced they were no longer considering proposals to sell, lease, or outsource the management of UTMC. Instead, the university focused on improving the hospital's financial health. By September, 2021, instead of running a deficit, as had been predicted, UTMC ended the fiscal year roughly $4 million in the black.
Former Toledo mayor and Save UTMC coordinator, Carty Finkbeiner, said the recent four-star rating is important, especially since the center provides so much to the community.
"If they have to go someplace else out on that campus, it's very easy to get from point A to point B," he said. "And you add in that Toledo-Lucas County Board of Health, that part helps being out there. You've got a clinic environment that's taking care of some very basic human needs."
Ellis said hospital officials have since focused on safety and excellence to improve UTMC.
"Once you create a culture of safety and a culture of those kinds of high expectations for excellent quality, it starts to become the culture of excellence that we really want to have," Ellis said.
He said the positive conversation around UTMC's improvement will continue to grow.
"A lot of these things are really synergistic," Ellis said. "Excellent care of the patient, excellent support in the community and a place that everyone can be proud of to be working here," Ellis said.
While the four stars are nice, Ellis said, UTMC is already working toward a five-star rating in the future.