Hospital Compare overall rating
Questions about the Hospital Compare overall rating can be submitted to: cmsstarratings@lantanagroup.com.
What is the Hospital Compare overall rating?
The overall rating summarizes up to 57 quality measures - Opens in a new window on Hospital Compare reflecting common conditions that hospitals treat, such as heart attacks or pneumonia. Hospitals may perform more complex services or procedures not reflected in the measures on Hospital Compare. The overall rating shows how well each hospital performed, on average, compared to other hospitals in the U.S.
The overall rating ranges from one to five stars. The more stars, the better a hospital performed on the available quality measures. The most common overall rating is 3 stars. Learn more about the overall rating calculations - Opens in a new window.
How can I use the Hospital Compare overall rating?
In an emergency, you should go to the nearest hospital. When you are able to plan ahead, the Hospital Compare overall rating can provide a starting point for comparing a hospital to others locally and nationwide. Along with the overall rating, Hospital Compare includes information on many important aspects of quality, such as rates of infection and complications and patients’ experiences, based on survey results.
Choosing a hospital is a complex and personal decision that reflects individual needs and preferences. You should consider a variety of factors when choosing a hospital, such as physician guidance about your care plan and other sources of information about hospitals in your area.
Discuss the information you find on Hospital Compare with your physician or health care provider to decide which hospital best meets your health care needs.
Where does the Hospital Compare overall rating come from?
Hospitals report data to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, the federal agency that runs the Medicare program, through the Hospital Inpatient Quality Reporting (IQR) Program - Opens in a new window External Link icon and the Hospital Outpatient Quality Reporting (OQR) Program - Opens in a new window External Link icon. The Hospital Compare overall rating includes up to 57 of these measures in the overall rating calculation. Learn more - Opens in a new window.
Do the overall rating and the measures on Hospital Compare include all patients treated at the hospital or just Medicare patients?
Some of the measures used to calculate the overall rating are based only on data from Medicare patients and some are based on data from all patients. The claims-based measures, which include the mortality, readmission, complications, PSI-90, imaging efficiency, and unplanned hospital visits measures, are calculated using Medicare fee-for-service (FFS) hospital claims data only. The process of care, healthcare-associated infection (HAI), and HCAHPS Survey measures include data from all payers.
Why is the Hospital Compare overall rating not displayed for some hospitals?
This website displays an overall rating for about 80% of hospitals on Hospital Compare. In order for Hospital Compare to display an overall rating for a hospital, the hospital must have enough data on the individual quality measures used to calculate the overall rating. Some hospitals, due to the number and type of patients they treat, may not report data on all measures, and therefore, are not eligible for an overall star rating. For example, hospitals that are new or small may not have enough patients for the measures used to calculate an overall rating.