As part of the April refresh of Care Compare, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services plans to update its hospital overall star ratings. These ratings will be calculated using the revised methodology finalized in the Calendar Year 2021 outpatient prospective payment system final rule. The release of these data often generates interest from the media.
Hospitals and health systems have long supported transparency on quality. Many of the revisions included in the new star ratings methodology are improvements that will likely enhance the usability of the star ratings for both providers and patients. However, certain changes might not have the effect that CMS presumes, and there remain flaws in the methodology that CMS must address.
Download the Member Advisory here, which includes talking points to help prepare for questions about your organization’s performance. AHA members must be logged into the AHA website to access the full advisory.
Please share this advisory with your chief quality officer, clinical leaders and media team; review preview reports on the Hospital Reporting page for QualityNet to understand the basic approach of star ratings and your organization’s performance; and be ready to speak to performance improvement efforts related to the measures and topics in star ratings.
Further Questions
Please contact Akin Demehin, AHA director of policy, at 202-626-2365 or ademehin@aha.org or Caitlin Gillooley, AHA senior associate director of policy, at 202-626-2267 or cgillooley@aha.org if you have further questions.
from AHA Advisory
