Many top hospitals fail Medicare’s quality star ratings

Editor's Note

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid (CMS) on July 27 released its Overall Hospital Quality Star Ratings of 3,617 hospitals.

Only 102 received the top rating of five stars, and only a few of those are considered among the nation’s best, including Memorial Hermann Hospital System in Houston and Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, the July 27 Kaiser Health News reports.

The lowest ranking of one star was given to 129 hospitals−five are in Washington, DC; nine in Brooklyn; four in Las Vegas; and three in Miami.

Nearly half of the hospitals received an average rating of three stars.

In a statement, the president of the American Hospital Association said: “We are especially troubled that the current rating scheme unfairly penalizes teaching hospitals and those serving higher numbers of the poor.”

The federal government released its first overall hospital quality rating on Wednesday, slapping average or below average scores on many of the nation's best-known hospitals while awarding top scores to dozens of unheralded ones.