Calif. Hospitals Average 2.7 Stars on CMS’ New Rating System

California hospitals averaged 2.7 stars on CMS' newly launched five-star quality ratings system, Kaiser Health News reports (Rau, Kaiser Health News, 4/16).

Details of New Star Ratings System

The hospital ratings, which were posted on CMS' Hospital Compare website for the first time on Thursday, are part of a broader effort to offer star ratings on the federal government's consumer-facing Compare websites. The new hospital rating system will offer a star rating based on the 11 publicly reported measures in the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems survey, which assesses patient experiences (California Healthline, 4/7). This year's ratings evaluated patient experiences from July 2013 to June 2014.

How Hospitals Fared

In total, CMS awarded five-star ratings to 251 of the 3,553 eligible hospitals -- or about 7% of the nation's hospitals. In addition:

• 1,205 hospitals, about 34%, received four stars;
• 1,414 hospitals, about 40 %, received three stars;
• 582 hospitals, about 16% received two stars; and
• 101 hospitals, about 3%, received one star (Rice, Modern Healthcare, 4/16).

CMS did not rate 1,102 hospitals, because it lacked adequate patient experience data during the survey period.

The majority of the top-rated facilities are small specialty hospitals that focus on costly elective procedures, like spine, heart or knee operations. These hospitals typically receive more positive patient reviews than larger general hospitals, which tend to score lower because of the diversity of illness and hectic EDs, both of which can hamper the patient experience.

Hospitals tended to score highest in:

• Maine;
• Minnesota;
• Nebraska;
• South Dakota; and
• Wisconsin.

They scored the lowest in:

• California;
• The District of Columbia;
• Florida;
• Maryland;
• Nevada;
• New Jersey; and
• New York.

Thirteen states and the District of Columbia had no hospitals with five-star ratings (Kaiser Health News, 4/16).

California Hospital Ratings

In California, just eight out of 300 hospitals received five-star ratings, including:

• Fresno Surgical Hospital;
• Hoag Orthopedic Institute; and
• Patients' Hospital of Redding.

Meanwhile, those that received four-star ratings include:

• Kaiser Foundation Hospital-South San Francisco;
• Mercy General Hospital; and
• Scripps Memorial Hospital La Jolla.

Three-star rated hospitals in California include:

• John Muir Medical Center's Walnut Creek campus;
• Sutter General Hospital; and
• UC-San Diego Medical Center.

Hospitals that received two-star ratings included:

• Alta Bates Summit Medical Center;
• Antelope Valley Hospital; and
• San Francisco General Hospital.

Meanwhile, 31 California hospitals received a one-star rating, including:

• Doctors Medical Center in San Pablo;
• Rideout Memorial Hospital; and
• Riverside Community Hospital (Powderly, Healthcare Finance, 4/16).

Comments

In a release, Patrick Conway, acting principal deputy administrator for CMS, said the ratings "will make it easier for consumers to use the information on the Hospital Compare website and spotlight excellence in health care quality." He added that they also "encourage hospitals and clinicians to strive to continuously improve the patient experience and quality of care delivered to all patients" (CMS release, 4/16).