How Your Hospital Ranks 
With first new star rankings released yesterday by CMS (Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services) this will be a little easier for consumers. The role of Government in medical transparency have long been touted as a qualitative and cost factor. The patient experience Star Ratings will make it easier for consumers to use the information on the Hospital Compare website and spotlight excellence in health care quality.
The Hospital Compare star ratings relate to patients’ experience of care at almost 3,500 Medicare-certified acute care hospitals. The ratings are based on data from the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems Survey (HCAHPS) measures that are included in Hospital Compare. HCAHPS has been in use since 2006 to measure patients’ perspectives of hospital care, and includes topics like:
• How well nurses and doctors communicated with patients
• How responsive hospital staff were to patient needs
• How clean and quiet hospital environments were
• How well patients were prepared for post-hospital settings
Only 251 hospitals–or 7 percent of those ranked–received a five-star rating under the new system, Kaiser Health News reported. The largest share of hospitals (40 percent) received three stars, including highly respected institutions such as Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital in Manhattan and Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago. Only 3 percent of hospitals netted one star.
Consumers will now see 12 HCAHPS Star Ratings on Hospital Compare, one for each of the 11 publicly reported HCAHPS measures, plus a summary star rating that combines or rolls up all the HCAHPS Star Ratings. These star ratings will be updated each quarter. Also, the Nursing Home Compare site already uses star ratings to help consumers compare nursing homes and choose one based on quality.
For more information on yesterday’s announcement, please visit here: http://www.cms.gov/Newsroom/MediaReleaseDatabase/Fact-sheets/2015-Fact-sheets-items/2015-04-16.html
- check out the fact sheet
- read the KHN report
- prior blogs on local hospitals.