LEWISTON – Patients give high marks to Central Maine Medical Center’s nurses and physicians.

They also rank the hospital high in overall patient satisfaction, according to the patient survey company Press Ganey Inc.

CMMC released some Press Ganey findings gleaned from first-quarter surveys last week.

Discharged patients are asked to answer about 60 questions dealing with their hospital stay; the responses are grouped into eight categories.

Bridgton Hospital, a CMMC affiliate, did equally well in the Press Ganey findings. A second CMMC affiliate, Rumford Hospital, posted somewhat lower results.

According to CMMC, during the January to March survey period, Press Ganey scored the hospital in the 99th percentile for patient satisfaction with the hospital’s nursing and physician staffs.

CMMC ranked in the 98th percentile for overall patient satisfaction, the survey found.

Bridgton Hospital ranked in the 99th percentile for overall patient satisfaction, while its nursing and physicians’ care ranked in the 98th percentile.

Rumford Hospital posted in the 83rd percentile for overall patient satisfaction, in the 98th percentile for nursing care and at the 63 percentile for physician care.

Jane Bubar, a Rumford Hospital spokeswoman, said the institution knows it has problems with the physical plant – a building that dates back to the 1930s – and is working to address issues that lowered its overall satisfaction rank.

She said the rank for physician care dropped during the quarter, but wasn’t sure why that happened.

According to CMMC, the rankings are drawn from Press Ganey surveys of 861 hospitals nationwide. In Maine, Press Ganey surveys include CMMC, Bridgton and Rumford hospitals, Maine General hospitals in Augusta and Waterville, Penobscot Bay Hospital and Inland Hospital.

At CMMC, the survey results are used to judge the quality of service offered by the hospital, an official said.

“We have been working for a number of years to improve patient care by using the Press Ganey survey results as a guideline,” said Jeri Maurer, CMMC’s guest relations coordinator. “It’s been an incremental process with the goal of making steady progress over an extended time period. I think these latest results show that the process is working.”

CMMC’s Heart and Vascular Institute, which opened a year ago, scored in the 98th percentile in Press Ganey’s survey of 71 cardiac care programs nationwide.