Crain’s Detroit Business writes: The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has miscalculated hospitals star ratings since they were first released in 2016, according to leaders at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago. Rush’s quality leaders found that instead of evenly weighting the eight measures in the safety of care group, the CMS’ star ratings formula relied heavily on one measure — PSI-90 — for the first four releases of the ratings and then complication rates from hip and knee replacements for the latest release. The single measure accounted for about 98 percent of a hospital’s performance in the safety group, according to Rush’s analysis. The safety group can also greatly influence a hospital’s overall star rating, the analysis concluded. And that could have huge ramifications. Star ratings are used by payers to negotiate contracts and help consumers decide where to go for care.
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- CMS hospitals star rating system has been wrong for 2 years, health system finds. Crain’s Detroit Business. June 15 2018