483, or 15% of hospitals earn 5 stars in latest CMS ratings
More than 75% of the 4,654 hospitals in the Care Compare Dataset for 2023 received 2, 3 or 4 stars.
Northwell Health cardiologist Dr. Bani Mekisha-Eskanda Azari examines a patient at North Shore University Hospital in Manhasset, which earned 5 stars in the latest CMS ratings.
Photo: Courtesy Northwell Health
In the latest Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services hospital star rating system, 483 received the highest ranking of 5 stars.
This compares to 429 hospitals that received 5 stars in 2022.
More than 75% of the 4,654 hospitals in the Care Compare Dataset for 2023 received 2, 3 or 4 stars.
More hospitals were rated this year than last. In 2022, 3,093 hospitals were in the dataset.
Breaking down this year's numbers: 483, or 15.7% of the total received 5 stars; 803, or 26.11% received 4 stars; 872 or 28.35% received 3 stars; 668, or 21.72% received 2 stars; and 250, or 8.13% received 1 star.
The majority of hospitals in 2022 received 3 or 4 stars, with 890 hospitals getting 4 stars and that same number receiving 3 stars.
Rankings for individual hospitals can be found by zip code on Medicare.gov.
WHY THIS MATTERS
The overall rating shows how well each hospital performed on a set of quality measures compared to other hospitals in the U.S. The more stars, the better a hospital performed across five areas of quality: mortality, safety of care, readmission, patient experience, and timely and effective care.
CMS also uses patient surveys for the star rating system.
Hospitals that rank high in quality metrics, including patient surveys, tout the results to consumers who are looking to choose a healthcare facility.
Northwell Health, among the largest systems in New York, said it has seven hospitals that earned 4 and 5 stars this year. Five-star hospitals include North Shore University Hospital in Manhasset, Huntington Hospital and Mather Hospital in Port Jefferson.
Northwell hospitals earning 4-stars are Glen Cove Hospital, Lenox Hill Hospital in Manhattan, Northern Westchester Hospital in Mount Kisco and Staten Island University Hospital.
Eleven of its 12 hospitals evaluated either maintained or improved their CMS standing since 2022, Northwell said.
"Northwell Health analyzes the results of each hospital's CMS report each year, internalizes them, course corrects where needed and strives to reach higher," said Michael Dowling, Northwell's president and CEO. "I'm proud to say this was our best showing yet as a health system. Three CMS five-star hospitals on Long Island alone proves our commitment to quality care and excellent outcomes, from the environmental service workers and cooks to our nurses and clinicians."
THE LARGER TREND
CMS released the 2023 Five-Star Quality Rating System on Wednesday.
The overall star rating for July was calculated using July 2023 Care Compare data.
CMS last year updated data for the hospital quality star ratings. CMS overhauled the ratings' methodology in 2020.
Twitter: @SusanJMorse
Email the writer: SMorse@himss.org
