Hospital Compare Preview Reports Available
What Is Your Rank in The Hospital Inpatient Quality Reporting Program?
CMS released the Hospital Compare Preview Reports on May 2, 2018, on all hospitals that participate in Hospital Inpatient Quality Reporting Program (IQR), Hospital Outpatient Quality Reporting Program (OQR) and/or PPS-Exempt Cancer Hospital Quality Reporting (PCHQR) Programs. Hospitals are encouraged to access and download reports early in the preview period (May 2 – June 2, 2018) in order to complete a thorough review. The Preview Reports are only available during the preview period.
Facilities may access their Hospital Compare Preview Reports by logging in to the QualityNet Secure Portal and selecting the report they wish to view. The Preview Report data will be reported on the CMS Hospital Compare website where Medicare beneficiaries and the general public can review quality of care indicators data for participating hospitals and facilities.
On May 21 and May 22, CMS released the Overall Hospital Quality Star Ratings Hospital-Specific Reports (HSR). These Microsoft Excel reports are essentially “report cards” that provide hospitals with a detailed summary of their:
- Overall Hospital Quality Star Rating and summary score
- Group scores and group performance categories
- Standardized measure-level data used in the star rating calculation
- Measure loading coefficients used in the star ratings calculation (these are the same for all hospitals across the nation)
HSRs are available to hospital staff who are registered for the QualityNet Secure Portal and who are assigned the following role:
- Hospital Reporting Feedback – Inpatient role – required to receive the report
- File Exchange & Search role — required to download the report from the QualityNet Secure Portal
The Overall Hospital Quality Star Rating is designed to provide summary information for consumers about existing publicly-reported hospital quality data. In the case of Hospital Compare, the Overall Hospital Quality Star Rating will be complementary to existing efforts, such as the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) star ratings (implemented in April 2015), and will not replace the reporting of any individual quality measures
IQR Methodology
Flowchart of the Six-Step Overall Hospital Quality Star Rating Methodology
Review Your IQR Data
We encourage our hospital clients to log onto QualityNet to review Preview Data, HSR data and Star Ratings before June 2, 2018.
If data is incorrect, or there are questions, please email questions about the Overall Hospital Quality Star Ratings to the Hospital Compare Overall Hospital Ratings Team at cmsstarratings@lantanagroup.com.
For assistance downloading the HSR from the QualityNet Secure Portal or to register for a QualityNet Secure Portal account, contact the QualityNet Help Desk at qnetsupport@hcqis.org. Provide the name of your hospital and your hospital’s CMS Certification Number (CCN).
Additional resources:
Author: Michelle Bowes, CMS Regulatory Compliance Team Lead Consultant
