Hospital record · FY2026CCN 010073

1Hospital

Clay County Hospital

2Location

Ashland, AL (Alabama’s hospitals on the map and in the table) 36251

Clay County

3Type

46 beds · Government

4Care Compare stars

Not Available

Overall rating, CMS Care Compare data of July 22, 2026
CMS footnote 16: There are too few measures or measure groups reported to calculate a star rating or measure group score.
Open on Care Compare (opens in a new tab)

5Total HAC Score

1.0698

As CMS reports it

6Payment reduction

1% cut

CMS’s value: Yes

7Estimated cut

$17K estimate

Likely $12⁠–⁠19K; about $119 per traditional Medicare stay

Cut 1%

$17K

cut from its FY2026 Medicare inpatient payments, this site estimates estimate

For fiscal year 2026, CMS reports a Total HAC Score of 1.0698 for Clay County Hospital and a payment reduction decision of Yes.

That is 1% of about $1.7M, this site’s estimate of what traditional Medicare pays it for inpatient stays in a year: about $119 per traditional Medicare stay.

Likely range $12–19K

Its score was above CMS’s line, so CMS cut its Medicare inpatient payments by 1% for the year. The score compares hospitals with each other; it is not a grade of the quality of care.

CMS cut scores of 0.3799 and above.

Each year CMS cuts the hospitals with the highest quarter of scores, those above the 75th percentile, so the line moves with other hospitals’ scores.

Higher than 95% of the other 2,928 scores CMS published (higher is worse).

Its record, fiscal years 2015 to 2026 Cut in 5 of 11 years

15No
16No
17No
18No
19Cut
20Cut
21Cut
22Cut
23—
24No
25No
26Cut

Where the score came from

CMS scored this hospital on 2 of the 6 measures. On every measure a lower value is better. Each row puts the hospital among every hospital with a value: the gray columns are those hospitals, the tall tick is the national median, and the hatched ends score the same as CMS’s floor or cap.

Bringing PSI 90 down to the national median (0.9623) would lower the score the most: by 0.8060, to 0.2638. That change alone would put the score under CMS’s line. Try it in the what-if

Figure 1. Of its 2 measures with a value, this hospital is above the national median on 2; PSI 90 added the most to its score.

This hospital
National median
Scores the same as CMS’s floor or cap

PSI 90 (what it counts)
Safety problems such as serious bedsores, falls that break a bone and blood clots after surgery, found by CMS in traditional Medicare claims. A value of 1 matches the national composite value.
added the most
Patient safety and adverse events composite
Worse than 89% of the other 2,808 hospitals
estimate

This site recomputes this measure’s z‑score from CMS’s published value. The recompute can differ from CMS’s z‑score by up to 0.0021. How this site estimates

CMS value1.1932

Z-score1.4295

Part of score+0.7148
CLABSI (what it counts)
Bloodstream infections tied to a central line, a tube often placed in a large vein in the neck, chest or groin. Hospitals report them to the CDC’s National Healthcare Safety Network. A value of 1.0 means as many infections as the CDC’s model predicted.
Central line–associated bloodstream infections
Not scored on this measure
CMS footnote 13: Results cannot be calculated for this reporting period.
CMS footnote 5: Results are not available for this reporting period.

CMS valueno value published

Z-scoreno value published

Part of scoreno value published
CAUTI (what it counts)
Urinary tract infections that start from a urinary catheter, a tube that drains the bladder. Hospitals report them to the CDC’s National Healthcare Safety Network. A value of 1.0 means as many infections as the CDC’s model predicted.
Catheter-associated urinary tract infections
Not scored on this measure
CMS footnote 13: Results cannot be calculated for this reporting period.
CMS footnote 5: Results are not available for this reporting period.

CMS valueno value published

Z-scoreno value published

Part of scoreno value published
SSI (what it counts)
Deep infections at the site of colon surgery or an abdominal hysterectomy, within a month of the operation, pooled into one measure. Hospitals report them to the CDC’s National Healthcare Safety Network. A value of 1.0 means as many infections as the CDC’s model predicted.
Surgical site infections after colon surgery or abdominal hysterectomy
Not scored on this measure
CMS footnote 13: Results cannot be calculated for this reporting period.
CMS footnote 5: Results are not available for this reporting period.

CMS valueno value published

Z-scoreno value published

Part of scoreno value published
CDI (what it counts)
C. diff infections, which cause diarrhea and inflammation of the colon, found by a lab test and starting in the hospital. Hospitals report them to the CDC’s National Healthcare Safety Network. A value of 1.0 means as many infections as the CDC’s model predicted.
Clostridioides difficile (C. diff) infections
Worse than 77% of the other 2,766 hospitals
estimate

This site recomputes this measure’s z‑score from CMS’s published value. The recompute can differ from CMS’s z‑score by up to 0.0071. How this site estimates

CMS value0.561

Z-score0.7101

Part of score+0.3551
MRSA (what it counts)
Bloodstream infections with MRSA, a germ that resists several antibiotics, found by a lab test and starting in the hospital. Hospitals report them to the CDC’s National Healthcare Safety Network. A value of 1.0 means as many infections as the CDC’s model predicted.
MRSA bloodstream infections
Not scored on this measure
CMS footnote 13: Results cannot be calculated for this reporting period.
CMS footnote 5: Results are not available for this reporting period.

CMS valueno value published

Z-scoreno value published

Part of scoreno value published

Source: CMS Provider Data Catalog, HACRP FY2026 (yq43-i98g), released August 13, 2026.

Show table

Measure	CMS value	National median	Z-score	Part of the score	Among hospitals
PSI 90	1.1932	0.9623	1.4295	+0.7148	Worse than 89% of the other 2,808 hospitals
CLABSI	no value published	0.559	no value published	no value published	Not scored on this measure
CAUTI	no value published	0.489	no value published	no value published	Not scored on this measure
SSI	no value published	0.795	no value published	no value published	Not scored on this measure
CDI	0.561	0.346	0.7101	+0.3551	Worse than 77% of the other 2,766 hospitals
MRSA	no value published	0.641	no value published	no value published	Not scored on this measure

How the parts add up

CMS adds the z‑scores and divides by the number of measures scored, so each measure counts the same. Each bar below is one z‑score divided by 2; a bar right of zero raised the score and one left of zero lowered it.

(1.4295PSI 90+0.7101CDI)÷2measures=1.0698Total HAC Score

This hospital’s score is 0.6906 above 0.3792, the highest score CMS marked No. (This site recomputes.)

Figure 2. The parts add up to 1.0698, above CMS’s line.

This site recomputes · Source: CMS Provider Data Catalog, HACRP FY2026 (yq43-i98g), released August 13, 2026.

Show table

Measure	Z-score	Part of the score	Running total
PSI 90	1.4295	+0.7148	0.7148
CDI	0.7101	+0.3551	1.0699
Total HAC Score			1.0698
CMS’s line		0.3792	0.3799

The money is a cliff

This program’s cut doesn’t grow with the score. Over CMS’s line, CMS cuts 1% of what traditional Medicare pays a hospital for inpatient stays that year; at or under the line, this program cuts nothing.

The chart draws what the cut would be for this hospital at any Total HAC Score, from this site’s estimate of its payments, with its own score marked.

Figure 3. The cut is a cliff, not a slope: this hospital’s score, 0.6906 over the highest score CMS didn’t cut, costs it about $17K by this site’s estimate, and at CMS’s highest score, 2.3133, the cut would be the same.

Under the axis, every Total HAC Score CMS published: 306 of the 2,929 scored within 0.1 of CMS’s line, on one side or the other.

Estimate · Source: this site’s arithmetic on CMS’s FY2026 IPPS final rule files (the impact file, the rate tables and the value-based factors), its FY2026 HRRP supplemental file and HACRP FY2026 (yq43-i98g), released August 13, 2026.

Show table

Score	Total HAC Score	Estimated HAC cut (whole dollars)
Any score up to 0.3792	0.3792	$0
Any score from 0.3799	0.3799	−$16,635
This hospital	1.0698	−$16,635
CMS’s highest score	2.3133	−$16,635

The money, line by line

This site estimates what traditional Medicare pays the hospital for a year of inpatient stays, from CMS’s FY2026 payment files, then applies Medicare’s three hospital quality programs: the readmissions and value-based adjustments to the base payment, and the HAC cut last, as the law sets.

The readmissions and value-based programs adjust only the base payment: the DRG rates times the hospital’s cases, and a Medicare-dependent hospital’s add-on. The HAC cut comes last and takes 1% of everything left, teaching, low-income-patient, outlier, capital and uncompensated care payments included.

($1,663,505payment+$0readmissions+$0value-based)×1%the cut=$16,635HAC cut

$16,635HAC cut÷140traditional Medicare stays=$119per traditional Medicare stay

Figure 4. This site estimates the HAC cut at $17K: 1% of the hospital’s whole inpatient payment, taken last. The readmissions and value-based adjustments, on the base alone, came to $0 and $0.

Estimated Medicare inpatient payments · FY2026 estimate

What traditional Medicare pays it for inpatient stays
DRG payments at the federal rates the base	$959,416
Many low-income patients (disproportionate share)	$28,782
Outliers: unusually costly stays	$35,153
Low-volume adjustment	$313,390
Capital: buildings and equipment	$72,231
Uncompensated care	$254,533
Total, before the three programs	$1,663,505
The three programs: two on the base, the HAC cut last
Readmissions (HRRP) base × (1.0000 − 1)	$0
Value-based purchasing (HVBP) not in CMS’s value-based factors: no adjustment	$0
After these two	$1,663,505
HAC Reduction Program 1% of everything above; likely $12⁠–⁠19K	−$16,635
Net of the three programs likely −$18K to −$12K	−$16,635

Not paid to this hospital: a Medicare-dependent hospital add-on, teaching payments, and a sole community hospital rate difference.

Whole dollars, so every line adds up; the estimate is not that precise. Each likely range spans the middle 80% of the misses this site’s estimate made for similar hospitals (or for a wider group, where there were too few) when it was checked against their FY2024 cost reports: one year’s check, not a promise of how often a hospital’s actual figure lands inside.

Show table

Line	Amount (whole dollars)
DRG payments at the federal rates (the base)	$959,416
Many low-income patients (disproportionate share)	$28,782
Outliers: unusually costly stays	$35,153
Low-volume adjustment	$313,390
Capital: buildings and equipment	$72,231
Uncompensated care	$254,533
Total, before the three programs	$1,663,505
Readmissions (HRRP) (base × (1.0000 − 1))	$0
Value-based purchasing (HVBP) (not in CMS’s value-based factors: no adjustment)	$0
After these two	$1,663,505
HAC Reduction Program (1% of everything above; likely $12–19K)	−$16,635
Net of the three programs (likely −$18K to −$12K)	−$16,635

What if a measure were different?

Change a measure’s value to see how this site recomputes the Total HAC Score, the payment reduction decision and, by its estimate, the money, starting from CMS’s values. The money doesn’t slide with the score: it drops off a cliff at CMS’s line.

The what-if needs JavaScript. Without it, the values below stay as they are.

Show table

	CMS reports	Hypothetical
Total HAC Score	1.0698	same
Payment reduction decision	Yes	same
Payment cut	1%	same
Estimated HAC cut estimate	$17K	same

CMS’s line: between 0.3792 and 0.3799

The faint ticks are CMS’s line in earlier years under the same formula, from about 0.300 (FY2022) to about 0.375 (FY2024). The line moves every year, so a hospital can cross it without changing anything.

CMS reports a Total HAC Score of 1.0698 and a payment reduction decision of Yes.

A what-if shows the formula’s arithmetic, not what a hospital could realistically change or how. CMS’s real result also depends on other hospitals.

What would it take?

Getting under CMS’s line would keep about $17K, this site estimates: the whole cut, however far under the score lands.

From CMS’s values, one measure at a time, with every other measure held at CMS’s value.

Measure	Value that would read No
PSI 90	0.9952 or lower
CDI	0.204 or lower

Each measure weighs 1 ÷ 2 of the score.

Measure values

SIR 1.0 = as many infections as predicted · Lower is better

On each track the tick is the national median; shaded values score the same as the floor or cap, as this site fits them to CMS’s values.

Patient safety and adverse events composite PSI 90

PSI 90 value

CMS 1.1932 · median 0.9623 · floor 0.7760 · cap 1.3482 · each 0.1 = 0.3491

Clostridioides difficile (C. diff) infections CDI

CDI value

CMS 0.561 · median 0.346 · cap 0.944 · each 0.1 = 0.1936

Have your NHSN predicted counts? (optional, stays in your browser)

Stays in your browser; never sent.

Optional: your NHSN predicted infections for CDI, January 1, 2023 to December 31, 2024

Figure 5. PSI 90 added the most to this hospital’s Total HAC Score of 1.0698 among its measured results: +0.7148.

PSI 90 +0.7148
CDI +0.3551

A measure adds its z‑score divided by 2, the number of measures scored. Bars right of the center line raise the score. Hatched: assigned by CMS.

This site recomputes · Source: CMS Provider Data Catalog, HACRP FY2026 (yq43-i98g), released August 13, 2026.

Show table

Measure	Z-score	Part of the score	Hypothetical
PSI 90	1.4295	+0.7148	same
CDI	0.7101	+0.3551	same

Interactive what-if at https://paidandpenalized.org/hacrp/hospital/010073/

Among hospitals with a Yes or No payment decision, CMS cut those with a published Total HAC Score of 0.3799 or higher and none at 0.3792 or lower. Maryland’s hospitals are scored but not subject to the reduction.

Held fixed: every other hospital’s results, CMS’s line, and each measure’s mean, spread, floor and cap as this site fits them to CMS’s published values.

Year by year

Where this hospital’s score fell among every hospital’s, each year CMS published one. A score near the top is among the highest; the shaded band is where CMS cut. Places compare across years even where CMS changed how it builds the score.

Its longest run: cut 4 years in a row.

Figure 6. CMS cut this hospital in 5 of the 11 years it made a decision.

● Red: a year CMS cut it ○ Hollow: a year it didn’t

This site recomputes · Source: CMS, HACRP hospital files for fiscal years 2015 to 2026 (Provider Data Catalog, its archives and, for the oldest years, the Internet Archive’s copies), and CMS’s cut lists for FY2015 and FY2016.

Show table

Fiscal year	Total HAC Score	Higher than this share of scores	Payment reduction
FY2015	2.4000	8.5%	not cut
FY2016	2.0000	4.1%	not cut
FY2017	1.4500	1.8%	not cut
FY2018	−0.0679	45.5%	not cut
FY2019	1.6666	98.0%	cut
FY2020	0.9388	94.8%	cut
FY2021	1.6398	99.3%	cut
FY2022	1.7225	99.2%	cut
FY2023			no decision
FY2024	−1.4163	0.1%	not cut
FY2025	−1.5447	0.1%	not cut
FY2026	1.0698	95.2%	cut

Its infections, year by year

This hospital’s infection rate against prediction for each calendar year Care Compare published one, on each measure with at least two years of results (black), over the nation’s middle hospital (gray). Below the dashed line at one, fewer infections than predicted. Each year is measured against the same fixed baseline, not against other hospitals, so unlike the score they can all improve at once.

Figure 7. 1 of its 1 infection measures ended lower than they started.

Source: CMS Care Compare, healthcare-associated infections by hospital, calendar years 2017 to 2024 (Provider Data Catalog archives; the oldest year through the Internet Archive’s copy).

Show table

Calendar year	C. diff
2017
2018	2.841
2019
2021
2022	0.000
2023
2024

Among hospitals like it

Each row is a group this hospital belongs to, drawn from every hospital in it with a payment decision. Red columns are hospitals past CMS’s line, the ones CMS cut; the short tick is the group’s middle score.

In Alabama, its score is higher than 91% of the other 67 scored there.

Figure 8. Its score is above the middle in all 5 groups it belongs to; the share cut runs from 22% (South region) to 43% (Alabama).

Source: CMS Provider Data Catalog, HACRP FY2026 (yq43-i98g), released August 13, 2026.

Show table

Group	With a decision	Hospitals cut	Share cut	Middle score	Hospital higher than
All hospitals	2,886	718	25%	−0.0453	95%
South region	1,174	263	22%	−0.1056	94%
Alabama	68	29	43%	0.2561	91%
Fewer than 100 beds	805	225	28%	−0.1154	89%
Government	401	140	35%	0.1602	89%
This hospital				1.0698
CMS’s line				0.3792	0.3799

The nearest hospitals

The 8 closest hospitals with a Total HAC Score, in a straight line. The squares are each hospital’s measures in order: filled, above the national median; open, at or below it; hatched, assigned by CMS; blank, not scored.

Figure 9. CMS cut 4 of the 8 nearest hospitals; the closest is 20 miles away.

Source: CMS Provider Data Catalog, HACRP FY2026 (yq43-i98g), released August 13, 2026.

Show table

Hospital	Miles	Score	Decision
Citizens Baptist Medical Center, Talladega, AL	20	1.4707	cut
Russell Medical Center, Alexander City, AL	22	0.2240	not cut
Coosa Valley Medical Center, Sylacauga, AL	23	−0.8311	not cut
Northeast Alabama Regional Medical Center, Anniston, AL	30	0.6627	cut
St Vincent's St Clair, Pell City, AL	37	0.9644	cut
Wellstar West Georgia Medical Center, Lagrange, GA	45	0.2326	not cut
Community Hospital Inc, Tallassee, AL	48	−1.4622	not cut
The East Alabama Healthcare Authority, Opelika, AL	48	0.4943	cut

#	Hospital	Miles	Score	Decision	Est. cut ($, modeled)	Measures
1	Citizens Baptist Medical CenterTalladega, AL	20	1.4707	1% cut	$39K	Above the national median on 3 of 3 measures
2	Russell Medical CenterAlexander City, AL	22	0.2240	No cut	$0	Above the national median on 2 of 3 measures
3	Coosa Valley Medical CenterSylacauga, AL	23	−0.8311	No cut	$0	Above the national median on 1 of 6 measures
4	Northeast Alabama Regional Medical CenterAnniston, AL	30	0.6627	1% cut	$289K	Above the national median on 4 of 6 measures
5	St Vincent's St ClairPell City, AL	37	0.9644	1% cut	$44K	Above the national median on 2 of 3 measures
6	Wellstar West Georgia Medical CenterLagrange, GA	45	0.2326	No cut	$0	Above the national median on 3 of 6 measures
7	Community Hospital IncTallassee, AL	48	−1.4622	No cut	$0	Above the national median on 0 of 1 measures
8	The East Alabama Healthcare AuthorityOpelika, AL	48	0.4943	1% cut	$355K	Above the national median on 5 of 6 measures

Download all hospitals’ data (CSV) · Data dictionary · CMS’s dataset page

CMS’s footnotes on this page

13: Results cannot be calculated for this reporting period.
5: Results are not available for this reporting period.

How the program works, and how to find another hospital

A penalty reflects how CMS’s formula scored relative performance; it is not a verdict on the quality of care.

Cite this page

Paid & Penalized. Clay County Hospital, Ashland, AL: Hospital-Acquired Conditions, FY2026. https://paidandpenalized.org/hacrp/hospital/010073/. Source: CMS Provider Data Catalog, HACRP FY2026 (yq43-i98g), released August 13, 2026.