The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has updated hospital performance data on its Hospital Compare website, and for the first time in more than a year, the agency has also updated its overall hospital star ratings.
This hospital compare data, according to Medicare officials, includes specific measures of hospitals’ quality of care, many of which are updated quarterly; the star ratings data was last updated in December 2017. The data is collected through CMS’ Hospital Quality Initiative programs.
The overall hospital quality star ratings, on a one-to-five scale, are designed to help individuals and caregivers compare hospitals in an understandable way. “The Hospital Compare website and star ratings system are valuable consumer tools that provide helpful and important information on the safety and quality of our nation’s hospitals,” CMS Administrator Seema Verma said in a statement. “These decision-making tools offer greater transparency on hospital performance for a wide variety of users—patients, caregivers, families, and the broader healthcare industry.”
CMS has also posted potential changes to the hospital star ratings for public comment. The changes under consideration aim to enhance the star ratings methodology by making hospital comparisons more precise and consistent, and by allowing more direct, “like-to-like” comparisons, according to agency officials. One potential change, for instance, recommended by some hospitals, would place hospitals with similar characteristics into “peer groups” allowing, for example, small hospitals to be compared to other small hospitals instead of all hospitals, CMS said.
CMS believes that consumers and patients point to Hospital Compare and the star ratings as important resources and rely on the latest data, while many hospitals rely on these ratings to identify areas for improvement. However, others in the industry question the validity of the ratings.
The American Hospital Association (AHA), which has previously argued that the system doesn’t display an accurate portrayal of quality or patient experience, has already come out against the agency’s announcement. “CMS’ approach to star ratings has been flawed from the outset. Today’s update has not addressed the major concerns about the methodology and usefulness of the star ratings. That is why the AHA asked CMS to postpone its publication until concerns about the methodology could be remedied. We appreciate that CMS continues to seek comment on changes, but would have preferred the agency had waited to release these ratings until a more reliable methodology is in place,” Tom Nickels, AHA executive vice president said in a statement.
Indeed, the AHA and others feel the methodology that determines the star ratings for hospitals is severely flawed. A few years ago, a Kaiser Health News report dug into the ratings, revealing that just 102 of the more than 3,600 hospitals that CMS rated received the top rating of five stars, while Medicare gave its below average score of two-star ratings to 707 hospitals, including some of the most prominent and well-renowned organizations in the country such as Geisinger and MedStar.
CMS did, however, update their methodology system in 2017. Stakeholders can publicly comment on CMS’ proposed changes to the hospital star ratings until March 29.
