Latest CMS hospital ratings released: Compare hospital ratings with this tool

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services released updated star ratings for nearly 3,000 hospitals nationwide on Wednesday, revealing that hundreds of local hospitals ranked lower compared to last year. 

These ratings, based on a five-star scale, provide a snapshot of hospital performance across measures including mortality and readmission rates, emergency department treatment, and value of care. Some hospital officials said their lower ratings stemmed from data the centers collected in the later part of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Patients can start with hospital ratings to make informed decisions about their care. Experts advise focusing on specific measures that are relevant to individual needs, such as heart attack treatment or hip replacement surgery, and using star ratings as supplemental information alongside discussions with doctors and loved ones. 

“I see them as a good jumping off point for conversations between a patient and their health care provider,” said Matt Austin, associate professor at the Johns Hopkins Armstrong Institute for Patient Safety and Quality. 

What are the best rated hospitals near me?

Search by hospital name, city, or state to discover how the centers rated hospitals near you. Explore specific categories such as readmission rates or respiratory care to see how the hospital performs in key areas. Note that star ratings and measure scores may not be available for every hospital. 

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How do most hospitals rank on the centers' star ratings? 

Most hospital rankings fall in the middle, with more than half of rated hospitals receiving three or four stars, according to Paste BN’s analysis.  

“Every hospital does really well in some areas, and every hospital struggles in some areas,” Austin said. Among hospitals rated both this year and last, about half kept their rating steady. Over 20% improved their ratings, while about a quarter fell a star or more. 

“Just because CMS rated a hospital three stars doesn’t mean it’s the wrong place for you in favor of one with five stars,” said Nancy Foster, vice president for quality and patient safety policy at the American Hospital Association.  

The centers' star rating system is one of several for hospitals, including the Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade and U.S. News rankings. These systems measure different aspects of care, Austin said. Leapfrog, for example, does not include readmission and mortality rates, but assesses additional measures like safe medication administration and foreign objects left in after surgery. 

Mortality and readmission 

Mortality and readmission rates often matter most to patients. These metrics indicate how well a hospital keeps patients alive and healthy and prevents return visits. 

The centers adjust these measures for factors like age, sex, existing health conditions and severity of illness, which can all influence how well a patient does once they’re discharged. However, they do not account for social risk factors like poverty, disability, or homelessness. 

Some hospitals stand out with multiple mortality measures worse than the national benchmarks. For example, Yakima Valley Memorial in Washington reported four out of six death rates higher than the national standards. 

MultiCare Health System acquired Yakima Valley Memorial Hospital in January 2023 and is “in the early stages of rebuilding a community resource that was allowed to deteriorate over time,” said Marcus Perry, a communications specialist for the hospital. 

“MultiCare has no higher priority than the safety of its patients and employees,” Perry said. “We are optimistic about the journey ahead and the progress that we are making to restore high quality and high functioning access to care.”  

Similarly, Benefis Health System in Great Falls, Montana, reported death rates for COPD, heart failure and pneumonia patients that were higher than the national figures. Serving an area with a population of around 230,000, the nonprofit hospital has about 250 inpatient beds.  

Kaci Husted, the hospital's vice president of communications, said these results reflect the period when COVID-19 surged in rural Northwest areas. 

“As the initial major waves of COVID hospitalizations subsided, Benefis began implementing numerous programs to better manage chronic illness in the communities we serve,” Husted said. “These efforts are centered on improving the health of our region through earlier diagnosis and treatment outside of the inpatient hospital setting.” 

ER visit times across the country 

The national average time patients spent in the emergency room before leaving was 2 hours and 43 minutes. However, some states and hospitals report significantly longer visit times due to factors such as hospital capacity and staffing shortages, Austin said. 

ER visit times are notably longer in the most densely populated states, including Maryland, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Delaware, New York and New Jersey, with averages ranging from three to over four hours, according to Paste BN’s analysis. 

Among individual hospitals, Delta Health System-The Medical Center in Greenville, Mississippi, reported the longest average ER visit, lasting 8 hours and 38 minutes – more than a third of the day. 

“The 8-hour time encompasses patients that cannot be moved to the floor and are boarded in the ER for up to 48 hours,” said Melissa Haley, clinical director of Delta Health System’s emergency room. “Our door-to-discharge home time is under 120 minutes. Our team is skilled to care for not only urgent and emergent patients but longer term.” 

Duke University Hospital in Durham, North Carolina, follows with an average of 7 hours and 13 minutes. Duke Health officials said that as a “safety-net hospital,” it receives some of the sickest patients in the region, contributing to the longer ER visit times. 

Impacts of COVID  

The COVID-19 pandemic introduced significant challenges for hospitals, including supply chain disruptions and workforce shortages. These issues are reflected in the measures used for the current ratings, which include some data from the later stages of the pandemic. 

“Some of that impact may still be shaking itself out in the ratings,” said Akin Demehin, senior director of quality and patient safety policy at the American Hospital Association. “It may not reflect fully all the changes that a hospital may have made to make their performance even better.” 

Although the pandemic no longer looms as large of a challenge, hospitals continue to grapple with its residual effects.  

“I don’t want to paint an overly rosy picture of what the environment looks like because there are still challenges,” Demehin said. “But it is safe to say we are in a different place now than we were at the height of the pandemic.”