CT hospital quality still lacking

New Medicare hospital quality ratings find little change from last year’s report. Almost half of Connecticut hospitals received three stars out of five, about the same as last year. Quality ratings didn’t change for half of Connecticut hospitals. This confirms  a long history of underperformance by Connecticut hospitals. We did have one five-star hospital (Sharon) this year; there were none last year. Among our surrounding states, Massachusetts and Rhode Island had much better ratings with 18% and 20% of hospitals earning five stars, respectively. Connecticut and New York both under-performed with 6% and 2% respectively. In contrast to our lower quality ratings, Connecticut spends far more than our neighbors on Medicare hospital costs per beneficiary. Connecticut ranks as sixth most expensive state in the nation while New York, Massachusetts and Rhode Island are all below the US average. Quality ratings are based on hundreds of detailed quality metrics. If you want to drill down, it is all available online. To see how your hospital performed, visit Medicare Hospital Compare.