Few U.S. hospitals given new CMS 5-star ranking

Of the more than 3,500 U.S. hospitals listed in a new five-star CMS rating system released this week, just 251 (and 14 in Ohio) got the highest possible score (Source: “Only 251 U.S. hospitals receive top ranking on patient experience,” Modern Healthcare, April 16, 2015). 

The new ratings, which are applied to the CMS Hospital Compare pages of hospitals, are part of a broader initiative by the federal agency to use a five-star rating system across all of its web pages. The ratings are intended to help consumers compare the quality of healthcare providers. 

According to a Modern Healthcare review of the data, a total of 101 hospitals received the lowest ranking of one star; 582 received two stars; 1,414 received three stars; 1,205 received four stars; and 251 received the highest ranking of five stars.