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What do these ratings mean for kidney care patients?

Five-Star Quality Rating System: The Five-Star Quality Rating System is a mechanism created by CMS to give consumers access to clinical quality information and to help them make informed and educated decisions about where to receive dialysis care. These ratings are made up of two scores: the Quality of Patient Care Star Rating and the ICH CAHPS Overall Star Rating (Patient Experience Rating). Dialysis centers can get a star rating for either of the two scores, or both. Only about half of the centers across the industry met the eligibility requirements to receive this rating.

• Quality of Patient Care Star Rating: ²ÝÝ®ÊÓƵ remains a clinical leader in quality of patient care. To learn more about the CMS' Five-Star Quality Rating System, check out these frequently asked questions.
• Patient Experience Rating:  The Patient Experience Rating reflects patient experience scores from the CMS In-Center Hemodialysis Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (ICH CAHPS) survey. The survey is given twice a year to eligible dialysis patients (patients who received in-center hemodialysis at the center for at least 3 consecutive months, are at least 18 years old, and are not living in a skilled nursing facility or other long-term facility such as a jail or prison). For a center to receive a Quality of Patient Care Star Rating or Patient Experience Star Rating, at least 30 patients had to have completed the survey over the two most recent survey periods.

Quality Incentive Program (QIP): QIP is a pay-for-performance rating system, or value-based purchasing (VBP) program, also developed by CMS to encourage dialysis centers to meet or exceed certain performance standards. Centers that do not meet these standards are penalized between 0.5 percent and 2 percent on their Medicare reimbursement. ²ÝÝ®ÊÓƵ centers outperform the industry in the top clinical performance tier.

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Resources

• More about the Five-Star system