The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services today added star ratings for hospitals reporting consumer perception survey measures at Hospital Compare, including an overall star rating for performance on the 11 survey measures. The survey is called the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems. “Hospitals are leaders in sharing quality and safety information to help patients make informed decisions about their health care,” said Akin Demehin, AHA senior associate director of policy. “While star ratings could be an effective way to make quality information easier to understand, the devil is in the details. There’s a risk of oversimplifying the complexity of quality care or misinterpreting what is important to a particular patient, especially since patients seek care for many different reasons.” CMS next year plans to implement a star rating for most Hospital Compare quality measures.

Headline
The Food and Drug Administration released draft guidance Sept. 24 that includes recommendations on non-clinical testing, clinical data and labeling for…
Headline
The Food and Drug Administration has issued an early alert for all automated Impella controllers by Abiomed following an issue that has caused three deaths and…
Headline
Boston Scientific, a large supplier of medical devices, said in an Aug. 26 statement posted on its website that on Aug. 25 it “identified a cybersecurity…
Headline
The Food and Drug Administration has issued an early alert for specific lots of BD ChloraPrep Applicators by Medline because of a potential breach of sterility…
Headline
The Food and Drug Administration has identified a Class I recall of North American Rescue first aid kits containing TRUE METRIX Blood Glucose Monitoring…
Headline
The Food and Drug Administration June 16 announced that a nationwide shortage of stereotactic breast biopsy needles is expected to last through the end of…