facebook tracking Kentucky hospital infection and safety ratings: 74 hospitals compared

Kentucky hospital infection and safety ratings

How 74 Kentucky hospitals compare with the national benchmark on six infections patients can catch in the hospital, and on serious complications, according to Medicare (CMS). Kentucky ranks #45 of 50 states on our infection index.

Infections Oct 2024 – Sep 2025 74 hospitals Ranked #45 of 50
Infection rank #45 of 50 Among the 10 highest · all states
Infection index 1.20 +0.20 vs U.S. U.S. = 1.00
Worse on 1+ infection 3 of 74 4% of reporting hospitals; U.S. 5%
Serious complications 4 worse 0 better than national (CMS PSI 90)

Kentucky results by infection

The Kentucky ratio adds up the infections reported by the state's hospitals and divides by the number CMS predicts; below 1.00 means fewer than predicted. Compare it with the U.S. ratio: CMS's predictions come from a fixed baseline period and infections have fallen since, so most ratios are now below 1.00. Counts show how many Kentucky hospitals CMS rated better than, no different from or worse than national.

InfectionKentucky ratioU.S. ratioBetterNo differentWorse
Central line infectionsCentral line-associated bloodstream infections (CLABSI) 0.79 0.58 3 26 0
Catheter UTIsCatheter-associated urinary tract infections (CAUTI) 0.61 0.47 8 35 0
Colon surgery infectionsSurgical site infections after colon surgery 1.07 0.83 2 27 3
Hysterectomy infectionsSurgical site infections after abdominal hysterectomy 1.05 1.02 0 7 0
MRSAMRSA bloodstream infections 0.86 0.68 1 27 0
C. diffC. diff intestinal infections 0.32 0.34 29 43 0

– means too few predicted infections to calculate a reliable ratio.

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All 74 Kentucky hospitals with safety results

Listed from fewest problems to most: hospitals worse on no infection come first, then by how many infections they were better on. Most hospitals are no different from the national benchmark.

Showing the first 25 of 74 hospitals

All Kentucky hospitals Kentucky star ratings Kentucky patient ratings Kentucky ER wait times
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How Kentucky compares with its neighbors

RankStateInfection indexWorse on 1+ infectionComplications worse
#9 Virginia 0.87 4% (3 of 76) 4
#18 Indiana 0.95 4% (3 of 82) 1
#27 Missouri 1.04 4% (3 of 72) 1
#29 Illinois 1.05 7% (9 of 124) 8
#31 Tennessee 1.06 7% (5 of 71) 2
#40 Ohio 1.14 8% (10 of 127) 9
#45 Kentucky 1.20 4% (3 of 74) 4
#46 West Virginia 1.22 6% (2 of 33) 3

Infection index: 1.00 is the U.S. level; lower is better (0.90 means about 10% fewer infections than U.S. hospitals overall, relative to what CMS predicts).

Questions about Kentucky hospital safety

Which Kentucky hospitals are better than national on infections?

28 Kentucky hospitals were better than national on at least one infection and worse on none, led by Saint Joseph Hospital (Lexington), St Elizabeth Med Center-South (Edgewood), Baptist Regional Medical Ctr (Corbin), Central Baptist Hospital (Lexington), Jewish Hospital (Louisville), Lake Cumberland Regional Hospital (Somerset). All 28 are listed on this page.

How does Kentucky compare with other states on hospital infections?

Kentucky ranks #45 of 50 states on HospitalsInEachState.com's infection index (lower is better), at 1.20. Averaged across the infections with enough data, its hospitals reported about 20% more infections than U.S. hospitals overall, relative to what CMS predicts. 3 of 74 reporting hospitals (4%) were worse than national on at least one infection, compared with 5% nationwide.

What if my hospital is worse than national on an infection?

A "worse" result means CMS found the hospital reported significantly more of that infection than predicted during the measurement period. It covers one type of infection over a past period and does not mean every patient is at higher risk. If you have a planned procedure, ask your doctor or the hospital what it is doing about the result and how it applies to your care. In an emergency, go to the nearest emergency room or call 911.

Why isn't my hospital listed?

Only hospitals with at least one CMS infection comparison or a serious-complications result are listed. Hospitals with too few procedures or patient days, such as many small rural, critical access and specialty hospitals, often have no comparison. A missing result is not a bad sign. Every hospital still has its own page in the Kentucky hospital directory.

Use this data

You're welcome to use these results with a link to this page.

See how all states compare

Source: CMS Care Compare, Healthcare-Associated Infections (Oct 2024 – Sep 2025) and Complications and Deaths (Jul 2022 – Jun 2024) files. "Better", "no different" and "worse" are CMS's own statistical comparisons with the national benchmark. The state ratios and infection index are HospitalsInEachState.com's calculation from the same data, not CMS ratings. Each facility is counted once by its CMS Certification Number. Updated automatically when CMS publishes new data.

Infection and complication results are one part of hospital quality and do not capture every service. Talk to your doctor about which hospital is right for your care. About the data. Not affiliated with CMS. For a medical emergency, call 911.