A new report issued by CMS outlines the methodology the organization uses to determine its overall star ratings for hospitals, which helps to improve the usability and interpretability of information made public on the hospital compare website.
"CMS developed this methodology with the input of a broad array of stakeholders to summarize results of all measures currently posted on Hospital Compare," a post on the QualityNet portal reads. The Overall Hospital Quality Star Ratings provide consumers with a simple overall rating generated by combining multiple dimensions of quality into a single summary score."
CMS also plans to release a frequently asked questions document and fact sheet along with final overall star ratings data.