Frequently asked questions

No. Every rating, rate and percentage on this site is calculated and published by CMS. We translate the measure codes into plain English, state which direction is better, and compare each hospital with the national median — but we publish no score of our own, no "best hospitals" list, and no composite index. No hospital can pay to appear, rank higher, or have a measure removed.

The CMS Care Compare datasets, the same source behind Medicare.gov. We import them directly from data.cms.gov and reproduce the values unchanged. The data currently on this site was released by CMS on August 13, 2026. CMS refreshes it roughly quarterly.

Less current than people assume, and this matters. CMS publishes quarterly, and each measure covers a reporting period that closed months before publication — mortality measures often span three years of care. A hospital that changed leadership, opened a new unit or lost experienced nursing staff recently looks exactly the same here. Treat the data as a description of the recent past, not of today.

Almost always because CMS withheld the result, not because the hospital refused to supply it. The usual reason is too few cases for the figure to be statistically reliable — fewer than 25 patients, for most measures. This is common at small and rural hospitals. We show the specific reason from the CMS footnote next to every blank, rather than leaving an empty cell that looks like concealment.

No — Medicare.gov is the authoritative source and we are a secondary one. If a figure here disagrees with Care Compare, Care Compare is right and we have a bug. Please tell us so we can fix it. Every hospital page shows the CMS Certification Number so you can look up the identical facility there.

CMS combines measures from five categories — mortality, safety of care, readmission, patient experience, and timely and effective care — into a single 1-to-5 star score. It is designed as a starting point for comparison, weighted toward outcomes rather than amenities.

No. The rating averages performance across many conditions, so a hospital can be excellent at cardiac surgery and average overall, or the reverse. If you know what care you need, the specific measure tells you far more than the summary star. A 3-star hospital with an outstanding joint replacement complication rate is the better choice for a knee replacement than a 5-star hospital that rarely does them.

About 41% of hospitals in this directory — roughly 2,245 facilities — have no overall rating. CMS only calculates one when a hospital reports enough measures with enough cases to be reliable. Critical access hospitals, psychiatric hospitals, children's hospitals and federal (VA and military) hospitals are excluded by design. A missing star is a limitation of the measurement, not a finding about the care.

There is no basis for assuming that. The absence of a rating means CMS could not calculate one — usually because of low patient volumes or because the hospital type is outside the programme. A low rating means CMS did calculate one and the result was below average. Those are entirely different statements, and the first one tells you nothing about quality.

Because the measures count different things. Death rates, infection ratios, readmission rates and ER wait times count bad outcomes, so lower is better. Patient survey scores and process measures like "sepsis care bundle completed" count good practice, so higher is better. This is the single most common way to misread hospital data, which is why we label the direction on every single measure rather than assuming it is obvious.

It means the hospital had 25% fewer infections than would be expected given its patient mix, device use and the procedures it performs. CMS reports infections as a standardized ratio rather than a count so that a large teaching hospital running hundreds of ICU central lines is not penalised for treating sicker patients. 1.00 is exactly as expected; below 1.00 is better than expected.

It is a normal, and usually reassuring, result. CMS compares a hospital with the national figure using a confidence interval, and "no different" means the gap is small enough that it could be chance. Most hospitals get this verdict on most measures. It means the hospital performs like a typical hospital on that measure — not that it failed to be measured.

Because the published figure counts only patients who answered "always" — not "usually", not "sometimes". That is a deliberately demanding bar, and the right one: "usually responded promptly to the call button" is no comfort on the night it did not. Read 70% in that context and it is a good score, not a poor one.

For the "excess days in acute care" measures, a negative number is good. It means patients spent fewer days back in hospital care than expected. We label these measures "lower is better" for exactly this reason, because a negative figure reads as alarming when it is in fact the best possible result.

For a planned procedure, often yes — that is what the data is useful for. For anything time-critical, no. In a heart attack, stroke, severe bleeding or breathing difficulty, the time to treatment outweighs any difference in ratings. Call 911 and let the paramedics choose: they know which hospital has an open cath lab or a stroke team on duty tonight, which no public dataset can tell you.

The ones matching the care you need. For a planned knee or hip replacement, the hip/knee complication rate and the readmission rate for that procedure. For cardiac care, the heart attack and heart failure measures. For any surgery, the surgical site infection measures and PSI-90. The overall star rating is the least specific thing on the page.

The research is genuinely mixed and ownership does not predict quality in any simple direction. Where it does matter is money: non-profit hospitals must provide charity care to keep their federal tax exemption, so financial assistance is often available even when it is not advertised. Ask about it regardless of who owns the hospital.

For complex or rare conditions, usually — teaching hospitals handle the hardest cases and offer treatments community hospitals cannot. For routine care the advantage largely disappears, and large academic centres often score lower on patient experience measures like quietness and responsiveness. Match the hospital to the complexity of what you need.

Ask your insurer, not the hospital, and ask close to the date you need care. Network contracts end, sometimes mid-year, and hospital staff are not always current on which plans are in network. CMS data does not include insurance networks at all, so nothing on this site can answer it.

Not reliably. Price and quality are only loosely related in U.S. hospital care, and the spending figure we show measures what Medicare paid, not what you will pay. Your own cost depends on your insurance and the prices your plan negotiated — which can differ by thousands of dollars between two hospitals with identical ratings.

Medicare Spending Per Beneficiary: what Medicare spent on an average patient at that hospital compared with the national average. 1.00 is exactly average, 0.94 is 6% below. It is context, not a quality score — lower spending can reflect genuine efficiency, or under-treatment. It does not predict your bill.

Ask directly, and ask again if your stay extends — the answer has real financial consequences. Observation care is billed under Part B rather than Part A, so you may face coinsurance on individual services and pay out of pocket for routine medications. It also does not count toward the three-day inpatient stay Medicare requires before covering skilled nursing care afterwards.

For emergency care, and for out-of-network clinicians treating you at an in-network hospital, generally no — the No Surprises Act bars most surprise balance billing since 2022. If you receive a surprise bill in those circumstances it may be unlawful, so do not simply pay it. Ask the hospital billing office to review it against the No Surprises Act.

No. Under EMTALA, a 1986 federal law, any hospital with an emergency department that accepts Medicare must screen and stabilize anyone who arrives with an emergency, regardless of insurance, ability to pay, or immigration status. They cannot delay treatment to check your coverage or transfer you before you are stable. This does not make the care free — you can still be billed — but it cannot be withheld.

Start with the hospital's patient advocate or patient relations office, which every hospital has. If that does not resolve it, contact your state health department, which licenses hospitals, or file a grievance through Medicare. We have no authority over any hospital and cannot investigate complaints.

Yes. Under HIPAA you have a right to a copy of your records, normally within 30 days. The hospital may charge a reasonable fee for copying. Ask the medical records or health information management department in writing, and keep a copy of your request.