Dole VA earns CMS 5-star rating for third year in a row
By Dole VA Office of Communication Services
Dole VA earned a 5-star rating from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) in their 2025 Overall Hospital Quality Star Ratings.
This is the third consecutive year Dole VA has earned the highest rating awarded by CMS, making the facility one of only 18 VA medical centers across the nation to do so. CMS’s hospital ratings are based on five categories: mortality, safety of care, readmission, patient experience and timely and effective care. A higher star rating, out of 5, indicates better performance on these quality measures.
Nationally, VA hospitals again outperformed non-VA hospitals on CMS’ Overall Star Rating, with 77% of VA hospitals earning an Overall Hospital Quality Rating of 4 or 5 stars.
In addition to the Hospital Quality rating, Dole VA also earned a 5-star rating in Patient Satisfaction.
“We are proud to be in an elite number of VA facilities that have earned 5-star ratings for three consecutive years,” said Michael Payne, Medical Center Director. “We are also impressed by the overall VA performance across the nation. It’s a strong indicator of our commitment to providing Veterans with timely, world-class health care that improves the quality of their lives.”
The CMS ratings coincide with VA experiencing an all-time high in Veteran confidence. As of September 9, 2025, 92.9% of Veterans nationally trust VA with their health care, while Dole VA’s trust score has steadily risen over recent years to 94.9%. Additionally, 96.8% of Veterans say they felt respected and comfortable during most recent visit, and 96.9% said their provider listened carefully to them.
“We utilize continuous process improvement,” said Joy Stephenson, Chief of Quality Management. “We evaluate data, other feedback we receive, and then ask the question, 'What’s the problem?' Once we define the problem, we determine the root cause, develop a plan to correct it, implement the plan, and then follow up.”
Within the last year, Dole VA has instituted a number of improvements to better serve Veterans. These include:
- Improving processes that ensure patients receive timely and supportive follow-up after discharge from acute mental health treatment.
- Engaging subject matter experts to provide targeted education when opportunities to improve are identified.
- Refining their approach to ensure conversations with Veterans about stress are productive and effective.
The CMS announcement also falls on the heels of the Trajector Medical study which recognized Wichita as the top city in the nation for Veterans’ health care. That study highlighted Dole VA's exceptional performance in providing timely, high-quality care across primary, specialty, and mental health services, setting a national benchmark for Veteran care.
The Trajector Medical study analyzed more than 1,800 data points across 132 VA hospitals to determine how U.S. cities serve their Veteran populations. Wichita led all cities with a perfect overall score of 100, based on a combination of low wait times, high patient satisfaction, and superior hospital care quality.
“We're striving for high reliability and, to achieve that, you've got to be working to improve every day,” Payne said.
VA is committed to delivering the timely, world-class health care Veterans deserve and will stop at nothing less. The overall rating — as well as ratings on specific quality and satisfaction measures — of the Robert J. Dole VA Medical Center can be found via CMS’ Care Compare tool.