CMS Care Compare

VA CENTRAL IOWA HEALTHCARE SYSTEM

DES MOINES, IA · Acute Care - Veterans Administration · Veterans Health Administration. Emergency services available. 24 CMS-published quality measures, refreshed quarterly.

CMS overall rating4/5

Quick facts

CCN (CMS Provider Number)
16003F
Address
3600 30TH STREET, DES MOINES, IA 50310
Phone
(515) 699-5999
County
POLK
Type
Acute Care - Veterans Administration
Ownership
Veterans Health Administration
Emergency services
Yes
Birthing-friendly designation
Not reported

Pricing snapshot

What this hospital reports under federal Hospital Price Transparency rules (45 CFR §180.50), shown next to the Medicare allowed amount as a reference. Hospital values come from this hospital’s machine-readable file as aggregated by the DoltHub HPT v3 community dataset; Medicare values come from the CMS Physician Fee Schedule. Real amounts on a specific bill vary by setting, modifier, and contract.

ServiceHospital chargemasterCash-payMedian commercialMedicare
CPT 99213

Office visit, established patient (low complexity)

$98
CPT 99214

Office visit, established patient (moderate complexity)

$139
CPT 99215

Office visit, established patient (high complexity)

$197
CPT 99284

ER visit (Level 4, moderate complexity)

$119
CPT 99285

ER visit (Level 5, high complexity)

$173
CPT 71045

Chest X-ray, single view

$26
CPT 70450

CT head/brain without contrast

$110
CPT 76700

Abdominal ultrasound, complete

$118
CPT 73221

MRI upper extremity joint without contrast

$212
CPT 27447

Total knee arthroplasty

$1,170
CPT 47562

Laparoscopic cholecystectomy

$635
CPT 45378

Colonoscopy, diagnostic

$390

Read this carefully. The chargemaster is the hospital’s starting price; very few patients actually pay this amount, but it’s often the basis for self-pay billing before discounts. Cash-pay is what the hospital accepts when paid in full at time of service. Median commercial is what insurance plans typically pay (the actual rate on your EOB depends on your specific plan). Medicare is the federally-set baseline.

Quality measures

CMS publishes these measures quarterly through the Care Compare program. Each measure is risk-adjusted where applicable so hospitals serving sicker patients aren’t penalized for their case mix. Values shown are this hospital’s reported numbers; “Not reported” means the case volume was too low for the figure to be statistically meaningful.

Mortality

30-day risk-standardized death rates for common admission types — tracked by CMS as a hospital-level outcome measure. Lower numbers are better; CMS adjusts for case mix so hospitals serving sicker patients aren't penalized.

  • 30-day mortality after COPD admission13.2

    Lower is better

  • 30-day mortality after coronary bypass (CABG)Not reported

    Lower is better

  • 30-day mortality after heart attack (AMI)12.1

    Lower is better

  • 30-day mortality after heart failure15.7

    Lower is better

  • 30-day mortality after pneumonia13.4

    Lower is better

  • 30-day mortality after strokeNot reported

    Lower is better

  • Hybrid hospital-wide mortality (admin + EHR data)Not reported

    Lower is better

Readmission

Risk-standardized rate of patients returning to any hospital within 30 days of discharge. Used by Medicare's Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program (HRRP) to set payment penalties.

  • 30-day readmission after CABGNot reported

    Lower is better

  • 30-day readmission after COPD17.8

    Lower is better

  • 30-day readmission after heart attack13.4

    Lower is better

  • 30-day readmission after heart failure17.1

    Lower is better

  • 30-day readmission after hip/knee replacement4.80

    Lower is better

  • 30-day readmission after pneumonia14.5

    Lower is better

  • Excess days in acute care after AMINot reported

    Lower is better

  • Excess days in acute care after heart failure-50.7

    Lower is better

  • Excess days in acute care after pneumonia-21.2

    Lower is better

  • Hybrid hospital-wide readmission (admin + EHR data)14.8

    Lower is better

Complications

Patient Safety Indicators (PSI) — adverse events that may have been prevented through better care. Lower is better.

  • COMP_HIP_KNEE3.30

    Lower is better

  • PSI_030.83

    Lower is better

  • PSI_04Not reported

    Lower is better

  • PSI_060.19

    Lower is better

  • PSI_080.37

    Lower is better

  • PSI_092.11

    Lower is better

  • PSI_101.61

    Lower is better

  • PSI_119.66

    Lower is better

  • PSI_123.46

    Lower is better

  • PSI_136.61

    Lower is better

  • PSI_141.68

    Lower is better

  • PSI_151.25

    Lower is better

  • PSI_901.12

    Lower is better

Timely care

Emergency department flow and time-to-treatment measures. Includes ED wait time, leave-without-being-seen rate, and stroke-imaging speed.

  • OP_32Not reported
  • OP_35_ADMNot reported
  • OP_35_EDNot reported
  • OP_36Not reported

If you have a bill from this hospital

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Common questions

How does CMS rate VA CENTRAL IOWA HEALTHCARE SYSTEM?
VA CENTRAL IOWA HEALTHCARE SYSTEM carries a 4 of 5 overall hospital rating from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services as of 2026-04-29. The rating combines mortality, safety, readmission, patient experience, and timely-care measures into a single score, refreshed quarterly.
Is VA CENTRAL IOWA HEALTHCARE SYSTEM a non-profit hospital?
VA CENTRAL IOWA HEALTHCARE SYSTEM is registered with CMS as Veterans Health Administration. ACA §501(r)'s charity-care requirement applies to non-profit hospitals; for-profit and most government hospitals are governed by other rules.
How do I dispute a bill from VA CENTRAL IOWA HEALTHCARE SYSTEM?
Every patient has federal rights regardless of which hospital sent the bill: (1) request an itemized statement (HIPAA §164.524), (2) receive a Good Faith Estimate before scheduled care (No Surprises Act, 2022), (3) dispute amounts billed beyond the agreed-upon estimate or without prior consent, and (4) apply for charity care if the facility is a 501(c)(3) non-profit (ACA §501(r)). Side-by-side comparison of your itemized bill against Medicare benchmarks is the standard first step in any review.
How fresh is this data?
Quality and pricing data on this page comes from the CMS Care Compare program, refreshed quarterly. Last updated: 2026-04-29. The hospital roster (name, address, ownership) refreshes on the same cadence. Source files are linked from /data-sources, and a "Report inaccuracy" link at the bottom of this page sends a correction request that we acknowledge within 24 hours.

P.S. If you have a bill from VA CENTRAL IOWA HEALTHCARE SYSTEM on your desk right now, the fastest path is to scan it. The audit takes about a minute and cross-references every charge against four public data sources: CMS Medicare rates, NADAC drug acquisition costs, federally-required Hospital Price Transparency files, and the CMS National Correct Coding Initiative bundling rules. Start the audit →

P.P.S. Even though this isn’t a non-profit hospital, you still have federal rights: itemized statement (HIPAA §164.524), Good Faith Estimate (No Surprises Act), and the right to dispute amounts billed without prior consent. The scan drafts the appropriate letters for whichever apply.

P.P.P.S.The metrics on this page are from CMS Care Compare and refresh quarterly. They’re one input among several when evaluating a hospital. The other input most patients don’t look at: the hospital’s federally-required price-transparency file, which shows what the hospital actually bills for each procedure.

Source & methodology

Quality measures and hospital roster from CMS Care Compare, refreshed quarterly. Federal-source data, public domain (17 USC §105). §501(r) charity-care references from 26 USC §501(r) and IRS Publication 78. Full data-source register at /data-sources.