The five-star rating on the CMS Hospital Compare website is becoming a more exclusive club. This year, CMS awarded 207 hospitals a five-star rating, down from 336 in is most recent posting.
The two-star rating went to 638 hospitals and 76 got only on star.
CMS bases its Star Ratings on the 11 publicly reported measures in the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) survey, which assesses patient experiences. CMS updates the ratings every quarter, and the latest results are for the reporting period from Jan. 1, 2014, through Dec. 31, 2014.
The 207 five-star ratings represent 6% of the 3,539 eligible hospitals, a worse showing than the July 2015 update when 336 of the 3,548 eligible hospitals achieved the highest level. In addition 1,087 (31%) received four stars; 1,531 (43%) received three stars, 638 (18%) received two stars, and 76 (2%) received one star.
There were 1,092 hospitals that could not be rated because CMS had insufficient data.
