The long awaited star ratings are finally out and some agencies are not happy. Meanwhile, other agencies are quite happy and have not waited to issue press releases to let the community know how great they are.
Star ratings for home health is the sixth category for which CMS has added stars. Since their release, we have a much better idea of where agencies fail. Prior to the actual release, all data assumptions were based on expectations of initial data released by CMS.
Below is the breakdown of how 12,261 agencies across the US and Territories rank:
5 Stars: 239 Agencies (Top 2%)
4 – 4.5 Stars: 2,218 Agencies (18%)
3 – 3.5 Stars: 4,274 Agencies (35% – “Average”)
2 – 2.5 Stars: 2,427 Agencies (20%)
1 – 1.5 Stars: 201 Agencies (1%)
No Stars: 2,902 Agencies.
Agencies with no star ratings did not have enough data to evaluate, didn’t submit data, or are recently certified.
If your agency is in the 4-5 star rating category, you should be very proud of your accomplishment. You should also consider using that honor in marketing. For agencies in the average rating of 3 – 3.5 stars, you have a goal: become one of the 4 or 5 star agencies!
To view your ranking against other agencies, you will need to go to: https://www.medicare.gov/homehealthcompare/.