“Consumers will be able to make smarter, better informed choices about their health care thanks to the hospital star ratings tool the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released today.

Publication of the hospital quality performance scores to the CMS Hospital Compare website will strengthen our country’s health care system. Millions of patients and family members can now access a tool that provides important information on how their hospitals are performing on key health quality measures. Consumers can use this trustworthy program to compare hospitals side-by-side. This is a huge step forward.

The overall star ratings released today are based on more than 60 performance measures that were selected through a thoughtful, vigorous process that included input from diverse stakeholders, including consumers. The publication of these ratings is a step toward achieving the Triple Aim; we expect it to foster improvements in patient experiences with care and ultimately help make health care in this country more patient- and family-centered.

The National Partnership and our many allies and partners will do all we can in coming weeks and months to ensure that consumers know about and use the star ratings program.”