Interactive tools · CMS Hospital Compare
Hospital Tools & Calculators
Free, no-sign-up tools that let you work directly with federal CMS Hospital Compare quality and safety data - compare any two U.S. hospitals measure by measure.
- 4
- Interactive workflows
- 5,432
- Hospitals covered
- 3,182
- CMS-rated
- CMS / FDA
- Data source
Why these tools exist
A single CMS star hides the measure families behind it. Of 3,182 rated hospitals in a 5,432-facility catalog (national average 3.2), only 12% reach five stars, so side-by-side compare is how you see infections, readmissions, and experience when the headline matches.
- 5,432
- hospitals you can compare
- 3.2 / 5
- national average star rating
- 12%
- reach five stars
- 4
- workflows on this hub
What a lookup can verify
Every hospital has a record, not every record runs deep
All 5,432 facilities in the CMS Hospital Compare extract carry a base record. The measure-family layers below, patient experience, infection rates, readmissions, mortality and the composite overall star, exist for a smaller share, so a compare or lookup returns more detail for some hospitals than others.
- CMS Hospital Compare record on file 100% 5,432
Name, address, ownership and CMS certification for every facility in the extract.
- Patient experience (HCAHPS) survey data 88.2% 4,792
National patient-survey results across communication, cleanliness and quiet domains.
- Healthcare-associated infection rates 88.2% 4,792
CDC NHSN infection measures compared to the national baseline.
- Readmission measure family 78.7% 4,276
30-day unplanned readmission rate rated better/same/worse than the national rate.
- Mortality measure family 75.6% 4,105
30-day mortality rate for tracked conditions rated better/same/worse than the national rate.
- Overall CMS star rating 58.6% 3,182
The composite 1-5 star score, calculated only when enough measure families report.
Share of the 5,432-hospital CMS Hospital Compare extract carrying each layer. Source: CMS Hospital Compare and CDC NHSN, current release.
The quality scale every compare session sits on
3,182 CMS-rated hospitals across the 1–5 star scale (national average 3.2)
- 1★ 199
1-star hospitals
199 hospitals
- 2★
2-star hospitals
662 hospitals
- 3★
3-star hospitals
987 hospitals
- 4★
4-star hospitals
950 hospitals
- 5★ 384
5-star hospitals
384 hospitals
What this shows Most hospitals cluster in the middle of the scale; only 12% reach five stars. Compare is useful precisely because the headline average hides that spread.
Interactive tools
Related data workflows
- What changed Scan hospitals whose CMS measures moved between release windows — rating upgrades, downgrades, and measure-family flips. Answers: Which hospitals got better or worse since the last CMS refresh? Open What changed →
- Device safety lookup Browse FDA MAUDE adverse-event density for devices and manufacturers tied to the hospital care stack. Answers: Which devices show elevated adverse-event reporting? Open Device safety lookup →
- National statistics board Live CMS aggregates — rated share, five-star concentration, and state spreads that frame every compare session. Answers: What does the national quality distribution look like right now? Open National statistics board →
How this data is sourced - all tools draw from CMS Hospital Compare and FDA device-safety data.
Download the CMS hospital extracts cited on this page: plainhospital-hospital-ratings.csv and plainhospital-state-summary.csv (CMS public records · CC0).
Take this with you
These tools work from the same CMS record every hospital profile draws on.
- Start with Compare: Put two hospitals side by side on CMS quality and safety measures - mortality, readmissions, patient experience and complications - to see which performs better, measure by measure. Open Compare
- See the best-rated hospitals nationally before comparing two directly. Best-rated hospitals
- Look up any hospital by name, city, or state. Browse hospitals
Tools draw on CMS Hospital Compare and FDA MAUDE device-safety data; results are reference information, not medical advice.
Every figure on PlainHospital is rendered directly from federal source data, no number is typed in by an editor. This page draws directly on federal source data, no figure is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error.