Star Ratings
A key feature of the DFCC on Medicare.gov is the Quality of Patient Care Star Rating, which provides a simple summary of the quality of care a dialysis clinic provides. Implemented in 2015, CMS developed the Quality of Patient Care Star Rating in response to a national call for greater transparency in how to measure the quality of care for patients with kidney disease and consumers’ desire to use health care quality data to make informed decisions.
The DFCC on Medicare.gov also includes Star Ratings from patient experience surveys collected through the In-Center Hemodialysis (ICH) Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (CAHPS) survey. Results from the survey are displayed as 1 to 5 stars based on how patients rated their facility. When searching on Care Compare, users can see Star Ratings for quality of care and Star Ratings for patient experience for each facility where data is available.
Data Refreshes
Measures data on the DFCC website are typically updated, depending on the measure, in:
- January (with a 15-day preview period in November)
- April (with a 15-day preview period in February)
- July (with a 15-day preview period in May)
- October (with a 32-day preview period in July-August)
Depending on where the data originates, certain measures are updated once per year in October, twice per year in October and April, or four times per year. The measures list above includes the update schedule for each measure.
CMS shows a preview of updated data to dialysis facilities before data are available to the public on DFCC. Facilities can contact CMS during the preview period with any questions about their data.
The ICH CAHPS Survey is administered twice per year, which is reflected by CMS’s twice-per-year data refresh.
Outreach around data and measure updates
The DFCC team announces data and measure refreshes through emails, national conference calls and webinars, and on the DFCC website. Past refresh materials can be found below.
2024 Refreshes
- October 2024 Refresh Questions and Answers (PDF)
- July 2024 Refresh Questions and Answers (PDF)
- April 2024 Refresh Questions and Answers (PDF)
- January 2024 Refresh Questions and Answers (PDF)
2023 Refreshes
- October 2023 Refresh Questions and Answers (PDF)
- July 2023 Refresh Questions and Answers (PDF)
- April 2023 Refresh Questions and Answers (PDF)
- January 2023 Refresh Questions and Answers (PDF)
2022 Refreshes
- Dialysis Facility Care Compare on Medicare.gov November Refresh Q&A (PDF)
- Dialysis Facility Care Compare April 2022 Refresh Q&A (PDF)
2020 Refreshes
- Dialysis Facility Compare July 2020 Refresh Q&A (PDF)
- Dialysis Facility Compare April 2020 Refresh Q&A (PDF)
- Dialysis Facility Compare January 2020 Refresh Q&A (PDF)
- Dialysis Facility Compare October 2020 Release Q&A (PDF)
2019 Refreshes
- Dialysis Facility Compare July 2019 Refresh Q&A (PDF)
- Dialysis Facility Compare May 2019 Refresh Q&A (PDF)
- Dialysis Facility Compare February 2019 Refresh Q&A (PDF)
- Dialysis Facility Compare October 2019 Release Q&A (PDF)
Note: To maintain relevancy, all materials older than 2019 have been archived.