The U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has introduced star ratings on Hospital Compare, its public information website, to make it easier for consumers to evaluate hospitals' quality of care.
The ratings reflect patient experience at nearly 3,500 Medicare-certified acute care hospitals, and they are based on data from the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) survey. The survey includes topics such as how well nurses and doctors communicate with patients, how responsive hospital staff are to patient needs, how clean and quiet hospital environments are, and how well patients were prepared for posthospital settings.
Consumers will now see star ratings in 12 categories on Hospital Compare, one for each of the 11 reported HCAHPS measures, as well as a summary star rating that combines all the HCAHPS ratings. These ratings will be updated each quarter.
