January 23, 2015 |

CMS adds ratings to Dialysis Facility Compare website

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has added star ratings to its Dialysis Facility Compare (DFC) website and plans to update the ratings annually beginning in October.

The ratings summarize performance data in an effort to make it easier for consumers to use the information on the website. Facilities are rated on a scale of one to five based on information about the quality of care and services that a dialysis facility provides. DFC joins Nursing Home Compare and Physician Compare in the use of the star ratings their websites.

The DFC site also has updated individual DFC quality measure data to reflect the most recent information for the existing measures. DFC quality measure data are updated quarterly or annually. Currently, nine DFC quality measures are being used collectively to comprise the DFC star ratings. CMS expects add more measures in the future.

In related news, CMS plans to add the standardized readmission ratio (SRR) for dialysis facilities to the publicly reported quality outcome measures available on the DFC website. SRR, a measure of care coordination, is not included in DFC’s star rating at this time.

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