Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Medicare Issues Delayed Hospital Star Ratings Despite Criticism
Kaiser Health News: Many Well-Known Hospitals Fail To Score 5 Stars In Medicare’s New Ratings
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services rated 3,617 hospitals on a one- to five-star scale, angering the hospital industry, which has been pressing the Obama administration and Congress to block the ratings. Hospitals argue the ratings will make places that treat the toughest cases look bad, but Medicare has held firm, saying that consumers need a simple way to objectively gauge quality. Medicare does factor in the health of patients when comparing hospitals, though not as much as some hospitals would like. Just 102 hospitals received the top rating of five stars, and few are those considered as the nation’s best by private ratings sources such as U.S. News & World Report or viewed as the most elite within the medical profession. (Rau, 7/27)
Modern Healthcare: CMS Releases Star Ratings For Hospitals
The CMS published the much-anticipated Overall Hospital Quality Star Ratings on Wednesday after industry stakeholders and Congress pressured the agency to continue to delay their release. The ratings are a composite metric of one to five stars, with five being the best. They intend to convey the overall quality of nearly 4,000 hospitals in the U.S and are posted to the CMS' Hospital Compare site. (Whitman, 7/27)
Morning Consult: CMS Launches Online Overall Quality Star Ratings For Hospitals
CMS delayed the release of the ratings earlier this year to allow more time for outreach to hospitals to understand concerns. That delay came after lawmakers from both parties urged the agency to delay the release of the ratings because they did not consider factors like a patient’s socioeconomic status or patient complexity. (McIntire, 7/27)
The Hill: Feds Issue Controversial Star Ratings For Hospitals
On Monday, Reps. Jim Renacci (R-Ohio) and Kathleen Rice (D-N.Y.) introduced H.R. 5927, a measure to delay the ratings until July 2017 and to require a 60-day comment period on the ratings’ data and methodology. The agency defended its work, claiming that research shows higher-rated hospitals have lower readmission and death rates. The CMS also said it took industry concerns about the differences between hospital types and sizes into consideration after the initial delay. (Clason, 7/27)
Media outlets report on the ratings from the states —
St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Several St. Louis Area Hospitals Get Low Marks In Government's Controversial Star Rating System
Not all hospitals shine brightly on the one- to five-star rating system, especially the hospitals many would expect to do well. Academic medical centers that provide highly specialized care received some of the lowest ratings, frustrating hospital leaders of those institutions. In the St. Louis area, Barnes-Jewish Hospital, a highly regarded 1,158-bed teaching hospital, garnered only a two-star rating, with five stars being the highest score. St. Louis University Hospital, also a teaching hospital, received only one star. (Liss, 7/28)
Georgia Health News: Georgia Hospital Industry Fires Back At Feds’ Quality Ratings
A federal health care agency Wednesday released its first overall star ratings for the quality of hospitals, and just two Georgia facilities earned the top five-star designation: Gordon Hospital in Calhoun, and Northside Medical Center in Columbus. ...In Georgia, five hospitals received the lowest score of one star: Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta; the Medical College of Georgia Hospitals and Clinics in Augusta; Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital in Albany; Piedmont Henry Hospital in Stockbridge; and WellStar Atlanta Medical Center. The hospital industry nationally has fought against the release of the ratings, saying that those facilities that treat the most difficult medical cases were put at a disadvantage. (Miller, 7/27)
The Dallas Morning News: How Did Your D-FW Hospital Fare In The Latest Federal Safety Ratings?
A total of 276 hospitals in the state- including 56 in the North Texas counties of Dallas, Collin, Denton and Tarrant- were rated by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. The scores were released Wednesday. The good news is that no hospital in the state got one star, the lowest overall score. (Rice, 7/27)
