Currently, the CMS Care Compare star recognition program requires a minimum of 100 annual inpatient discharges to qualify – and that excludes over 60% of Critical Access hospitals in the United States. This is not only because of a low number of qualifying inpatients, but also because it does not include swing beds which are a core service for rural, community hospitals. Currently, there is no other alternative recognition program for rural hospitals.

Time for year two! The National Rural Rating System continues to step up and establish credible criteria for a rating system for Rural, Critical Access, Emergency Departments and Clinics. The goal is to help hospitals achieve greatness, receive recognition for improvements in quality of care as well as celebrate the successes of hospitals meeting these high standards. With this recognition, rural hospitals will elevate and show respective local communities the quality of care they are providing and become local providers of choice.

This initiative is open and welcoming to any and all with certified survey vendor data.

This rating system will provide patients and visitors with valuable information on these hospitals and clinics similar to CMS. By using calculations from verified actual hospital data and published national benchmarks, NRRS will publish quarterly Star Ratings and an annual National Rural Honor Roll for all registered participants.

To see full details visit fivestarratings.org