Ethan Rhodes
Hospital Compare was created in 2002 through the combined efforts of Medicare and the Hospital Quality Alliance (HQA) to promote the reporting of hospital quality of care. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and the hospitals of the nation work together to publicly report hospital quality performance information on Care Compare on Medicare.gov and the Provider Data Catalog on data.cms.gov. CMS updates the data on the Compare tool on Medicare.gov and the Provider Data Catalog websites quarterly, though not all data are updated each quarter. The Hospital Quality Initiative Public Reporting Data Refresh for Hospitals by eCQI Resource Center also provides information on hospital quality measures.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Name of the tool | Hospital Compare |
| Organizations involved | Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), Hospital Quality Alliance (HQA), Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS), Medicare, Medicaid |
| Type of hospitals included | Acute care hospitals, short-term acute care hospitals, specialty hospitals, Veterans Administration (VA) medical centers, Department of Defense (DoD) military hospitals |
| Location | United States |
| Frequency of updates | Quarterly, not all data are updated each quarter. The Leapfrog Group's Hospital Safety Score is generated twice annually. |
| Data sources | Patient medical records, surveys, Medicare claims data, hospital cost reports, commercial licensors |
| Data presentation | Percentages, rates, tables, charts, symbols, descriptive information |
| Purpose | To provide consumers with information on hospital quality and safety, encourage improvements in care, and help consumers make informed healthcare decisions |
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What You'll Learn
Hospital Compare website
The Hospital Compare website was created through the combined efforts of Medicare and the Hospital Quality Alliance (HQA) in December 2002. The HQA is a public-private collaboration that includes organisations representing consumers, hospitals, providers, employers, accrediting organisations, and federal agencies. The HQA was formed to promote the reporting of hospital quality-of-care information, making it easier for consumers to make informed healthcare decisions and supporting efforts to improve quality in US hospitals.
The Hospital Compare website provides information on quality measures for over 4,000 hospitals across the nation, including Veterans Administration (VA) Medical Centers and military hospitals. It allows users to compare hospital facilities and empowers beneficiaries by providing transparent, comprehensive, and reliable information. The website includes data on process-of-care measures, which show whether a healthcare provider gives recommended care based on guidelines, standards of care, or practice parameters. It also features outcome measures, which reflect the results of care rather than whether or not a specific treatment was performed. Patient experience of care is measured through a national, standardised survey of hospital patients about their experiences, referred to as HCAHPS (Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems).
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) are responsible for updating the data on the Hospital Compare website and on data.medicare.gov. CMS works collaboratively with the nation's hospitals to publicly report hospital quality performance information. Updates are made quarterly, although not all data are updated each quarter. For instance, in October 2024, CMS updated data for hospitals on the public reporting websites. Additionally, CMS posts supporting documents related to the Star Ratings on the QualityNet website as part of its December update.
The Hospital Compare website has undergone several enhancements since its inception. In 2005, a "starter set" of ten process-of-care measures was displayed on topics such as heart attack, heart failure, pneumonia, and surgical care. In 2008, data from the HCAHPS survey, also known as the CAHPS Hospital Survey, was added to Hospital Compare. These updates ensure that consumers have access to the most current information when making healthcare decisions and enable hospitals to improve their quality of care.
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CMS Compare tool
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Compare tool on the Medicare.gov website provides consumers with information on over 100 quality measures for over 4,000 hospitals across the United States. This includes Veterans Administration (VA) medical centres and Department of Defense (DoD) military hospitals. The CMS Compare tool also covers data on ambulatory surgical centres, inpatient psychiatric facilities, and select cancer hospitals. This information is designed to help consumers make informed decisions about their healthcare choices and to encourage hospitals to continuously improve their standards of care.
The CMS tool enables users to compare the performance of healthcare providers at both a state and national level. Patient medical record information is converted into percentages and rates of performance, with outcome measures reflecting the results of care rather than specific treatments or interventions. The Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS), also known as the CAHPS Hospital Survey, is a key component of this, providing insights into patients' experiences during inpatient hospital stays.
The CMS Compare tool includes data on a range of topics, such as imaging efficiency patterns, care transitions, emergency department throughput efficiency, care coordination, and patient safety. In 2005, the initial "starter set" of measures included data on heart attacks, heart failure, pneumonia, and surgical care. Over time, CMS has expanded the scope of its data, adding new procedures and topics to enhance the tool's usefulness for consumers. For instance, in January 2024, CMS added the first procedure volume data file, covering 12 commonly performed procedures to help consumers find clinicians with relevant experience.
CMS updates the data on the Compare tool on a quarterly basis, ensuring that users have access to relatively recent information. However, it's important to note that not all data is updated every quarter. CMS also periodically adds more procedures to the profile pages of doctors and clinicians on the Medicare.gov Compare tool, further enriching the dataset. Additionally, CMS publicly reports Quality Payment Program (QPP) performance information for clinicians, groups, and Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) on the Doctors and Clinicians sections of the Medicare.gov Compare tool and the Provider Data Catalog.
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Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) survey
The Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) survey is a national, standardised, publicly reported survey that measures patients' perceptions of their hospital experience. It is the first survey to allow for objective and meaningful comparisons of hospitals on topics that are important to consumers. The survey captures the patient's experience of communication with doctors and nurses, the restfulness of the hospital environment, care coordination, responsiveness of hospital staff, communication about medicines, discharge information, cleanliness, information about symptoms, overall rating, and recommendation of the hospital.
HCAHPS was developed and tested in partnership with the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), another agency in the federal Department of Health and Human Services. The survey was implemented in October 2006, and the first public reporting of results occurred in March 2008. The survey is administered between 2 and 42 days after discharge to a random sample of adult patients. There are six approved modes of administration: mail, telephone, mail with telephone follow-up, web with mail follow-up, web with telephone follow-up, and web with mail and telephone follow-up. The survey is available in English, Spanish, Chinese, Russian, Vietnamese, Portuguese, German, Tagalog, and Arabic. Over 4,400 hospitals participate in HCAHPS, and nearly two million patients complete the survey each year.
The HCAHPS Project Team engages in quality oversight activities, including inspection of survey administration procedures, statistical analyses of submitted data, and site visits of survey vendors and self-administering hospitals, to ensure the survey is administered according to protocols. Summaries and analyses of HCAHPS scores can be found on the official HCAHPS website, along with news, alerts, training materials, podcasts, survey instruments, and implementation protocols.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) updates the data on the Compare Tool on Medicare.gov and the Provider Data Catalog websites quarterly, though not all data are updated each quarter. The Provider Data Catalog allows users to explore and download hospital data, as well as data on ambulatory surgical centres, inpatient psychiatric facilities, and some cancer hospitals.
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Hospital Quality Alliance (HQA)
The Hospital Quality Alliance (HQA) is a public-private collaboration that was created in December 2002 to promote the reporting of hospital quality of care data. The HQA consists of organisations that represent consumers, hospitals, providers, employers, accrediting organisations, and federal agencies. The goal of the HQA is to empower consumers to make informed healthcare decisions and to support efforts to improve the quality of hospitals in the United States.
Prior to the establishment of the HQA, data on hospitals' performance was generally unavailable to the public. The HQA, through its collaboration with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), has made significant strides in this area. CMS reports over 150 hospital quality measures on Care Compare on Medicare.gov and the Provider Data Catalog on data.cms.gov. These measures include process-of-care indicators, outcome measures, and patient experience surveys, such as HCAHPS (Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems).
The HQA's initial focus was on acute myocardial infarction, congestive heart failure, and pneumonia. Data collected by CMS on 10 indicators of the quality of care for these conditions formed the basis of the first national reporting on hospital performance. This data was collected during the first half of 2004, with median performance scores of at least 90% for 5 out of the 10 measures.
Since its inception, the HQA has continuously expanded the scope of its reporting. In 2005, a "starter set" of 10 process-of-care measures was introduced, covering topics such as heart attack, heart failure, pneumonia, and surgical care. By 2008, data from the HCAHPS survey, also known as the CAHPS Hospital Survey, was added to the Hospital Compare website. Today, the CMS Compare tool provides consumers with information on over 100 quality measures for more than 4,000 hospitals nationwide, including Veterans Administration (VA) medical centres and Department of Defense (DoD) military hospitals.
The CMS updates the data on the Compare tool and the Provider Data Catalog quarterly, though not all data is updated every quarter. Users can explore and download hospital data, as well as information on other healthcare facilities, through the Provider Data Catalog. This public display of quality information encourages hospitals to continuously improve their level of care.
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Hospital Quality Initiative Public Reporting
The Hospital Quality Initiative was created through the efforts of Medicare and the Hospital Quality Alliance (HQA). The HQA is a public-private collaboration that was established in December 2002 to promote reporting on hospital quality of care. The alliance consists of organisations representing consumers, hospitals, providers, employers, accrediting organisations, and federal agencies. The goal of the HQA is to help consumers make informed healthcare decisions and support improvements in US hospitals.
The Hospital Quality Initiative involves the public reporting of hospital quality performance information. This is done through the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Compare tool on the Medicare.gov website, as well as the Provider Data Catalog. The Compare tool provides consumers with information on over 100 quality measures for more than 4,000 hospitals across the nation. This includes data on Veteran Administration (VA) medical centres and Department of Defense (DoD) military hospitals. The Provider Data Catalog allows users to explore and download hospital data, as well as data on ambulatory surgical centres, inpatient psychiatric facilities, and some cancer hospitals.
The Hospital Quality Initiative encourages hospitals and healthcare facilities to continuously improve the care they provide. CMS updates the data on the Compare tool and Provider Data Catalog quarterly, including information on various measures, measure groups, quality reporting programs, and payment programs. For instance, CMS updated data for hospitals on public reporting websites on October 30, 2024, which included the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) Survey and the Outpatient and Ambulatory Surgery Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (OAS CAHPS) Survey.
The Hospital Inpatient Quality Reporting (IQR) Program and the Hospital Outpatient Reporting (OQR) Program are also part of the Hospital Quality Initiative. These programs require hospitals to submit data and meet certain requirements to avoid reductions in their Medicare fee-for-service payment rates. Most participants in these programs are short-term acute care hospitals.
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Frequently asked questions
Hospital Compare data is updated quarterly by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). However, not all data is updated each quarter.
The hospital compare data includes information on over 100 quality measures for over 4,000 hospitals nationwide, including VA medical centers and Department of Defense (DoD) military hospitals.
The hospital compare data allows consumers to compare the performance of healthcare providers and make informed healthcare decisions. It also encourages hospitals to improve the quality of care.
Some examples of comparative reports on hospitals include the Norton Healthcare Quality Report, Wisconsin CheckPoint, and the Leapfrog Group's Hospital Safety Score.
You can access the hospital compare data on the CMS website, Medicare.gov, and the Provider Data Catalog on data.cms.gov.
