Measure explainer
Patient Experience (HCAHPS)
What patients say about their hospital stay — communication with nurses and doctors, responsiveness, cleanliness, pain management, and whether they would recommend the hospital.
How CMS calculates it
HCAHPS (Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems) is a standardized survey CMS uses to measure patients' perspectives on their care. Ratings are shown on a 1–5 star scale.
Why it matters
These measures give patients, clinicians, and hospital boards a standardized way to compare care quality across facilities. For patient experience (hcahps), the general rule is higher is better. Always weigh a single measure alongside the full picture — case-mix, hospital size, and whether the measure is publicly reported for the hospital in question.
How to read the scores on this site
- Score: the hospital's reported value.
- Compared to national: better than, no different from, or worse than the US average, with a color dot and text label.
- Sample: the denominator or number of cases the score is based on. Larger samples are more statistically reliable.