Hospital quality performance measures are displayed from two different sources: 1) The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS); and 2) The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN).

CMS Hospital Quality Performance Measures

This section gives you quick access to the most current information available from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ (CMS) national quality initiative, now publicly reported on Care Compare at Medicare.gov (formerly Hospital Compare). The data highlights hospital performance on standardized clinical quality measures and allows comparison across hospitals at the state and national levels.

CMS currently reports more than 100 hospital quality measures, updated regularly, covering multiple aspects of care quality, safety, and patient outcomes.

Current CMS Measure Domains: 

• Mortality (Outcomes of Care) – death rates for certain conditions and procedures 

• Readmissions – unplanned returns to the hospital after discharge 

• Safety of Care – hospital-acquired conditions and complications (e.g., infections, falls) 

• Patient Experience – patient-reported experience of care (HCAHPS survey) 

• Timely and Effective Care – how consistently hospitals provide recommended treatments 

Types of Measures Reported: 

• Process of care measures – whether recommended care is provided according to evidence-based guidelines 

• Outcome measures – results of care, such as recovery, complications, or mortality 

• Patient experience measures – patient perspectives on communication, responsiveness, and care environment 

• Patient safety measures – adverse events and hospital-acquired conditions 

• Care coordination and transition measures – effectiveness of discharge planning and follow-up care 

• Structural measures – systems and practices hospitals use to support quality and safety 

Infections

Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN) (http://www.cdc.gov/nhsn/). CDC’s NHSN is the nation’s most widely used healthcare-associated infection tracking system. NHSN provides facilities, states, regions, and the nation with data needed to identify problem areas, measure progress of prevention efforts and ultimately eliminate healthcare-associated infections. In addition, NHSN allows healthcare facilities to track blood safety errors and important healthcare process measures such as healthcare personnel influenza vaccine status and control adherence rates.

Citations:  

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. (2026). Care Compare: Find and compare providers. U.S. Department of Health & Human Services. https://www.medicare.gov/care-compare/ 

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. (2026). Hospital quality initiative public reporting. https://www.cms.gov/medicare/quality/initiatives/hospital-quality-initiative/hospital-compare 

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. (2026). Inpatient quality measures. https://www.cms.gov/medicare/quality/initiatives/hospital-quality-initiative/inpatient-measures 

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2024). National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN). https://www.cdc.gov/nhsn/