The Patient Survey Ratings released in the January 2026 Care Compare update are based on interim calculations that will remain in effect for most of this year.
Notably, the methodology has shifted from 10 measures down to 8, following the removal of the lowest performing measure in the latest refresh. This change creates a meaningful opportunity for hospitals to see improvements in their overall ratings, especially for those previously impacted by a single outlier.
Measures Included
The Patient Survey Ratings released in the January 2026 Care Compare update represent a temporary interim calculation. This approach will remain in place until the October 2026 Care Compare refresh. The table below outlines the measures included before, during, and after the interim period.
Measure Inputs
The interim summary star rating is calculated using the eight measures that remain after removing the “Responsiveness of Hospital Staff” and “Care Transition” measures. These include four composite measures, two selected individual items, and two global items.
Measure Consolidation
The two HCAHPS individual items, “Cleanliness of the Hospital Environment” and “Quietness of the Hospital Environment”, are each averaged to produce a single individual item value. Similarly, the two HCAHPS global items, “Hospital Rating” and “Recommend the Hospital”, are combined into a single global measure value.
Summary Rating Calculation
The remaining six measures are averaged to derive an overall unrounded summary score, which is then rounded to the nearest whole number to assign the final HCAHPS summary star rating.
Impact of Changes
A comparison of summary star distributions between the October 2025 reporting period, based on the legacy 10 measures, and the interim period with 8 measures suggests a modest increase in the proportion of hospitals attaining 4 and 5 star ratings.
