2 area hospitals get high ratings in new U.S. system

ALBANY — The federal government released a new grading system Wednesday that gives hospitals a star rating similar to a movie review, raising criticism from a group representing New York's care centers.

The U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services released the first round of the Overall Hospital Quality Star Rating system after a three-month delay, during which hospitals and other medical groups raised concerns about the program and the methodology used.

The updated system awards hospitals a rating of one to five stars for the first time.

►DATABASE: Look up your hospital's rating here

It's based on dozens of more-specific, targeted measures that have previously been publicly available, including each hospital's safety or mortality rating. In some cases, hospitals did not receive a rating because there weren't enough measures to grade them on.

"The star rating will be updated quarterly, and will incorporate new measures as they are publicly reported on the website as well as remove measures retired from the quality reporting programs," Kate Goodrich, director of Center for Clinical Standards and Quality, wrote in a blog post on CMS' website.

In New York, 155 hospitals were graded.

Of those, only one received five stars: the Hospital for Special Surgery in Manhattan.

Twelve got a four-star rating, including Highland and Unity hospitals in the Rochester area, the Northern Westchester Hospital in Mount Kisco and the HealthAlliance Hospital Mary's Ave Campus in Kingston.

The remaining 142 New York hospitals received three (49), two (58) or one star (35), according to the federal database.

Hospitals have taken issue with the ratings system, calling it an oversimplification and questioning the methodology used to come up with the scores.

Michael Pauley, a spokesman for the Healthcare Association of New York State, said patients "should  talk with their physicians and local hospital staff" if they have any questions about the star rating or the quality of care.

"While HANYS supports the provision of quality data to help patients make choices and assist providers in improving care, we have concerns with the current CMS Overall Hospital Quality Star Ratings program because it oversimplifies the complexity of delivering high-quality care, uses flawed measures, fails to adjust for socio-demographic factors, and uses a methodology that cannot be replicated by hospitals or outside organizations," Pauley, whose group represents New York hospitals, said in a statement.