Seventy-four agencies earned five stars for the first time in CMS’ second public reporting of its star-rating system, which coincides with the Home Health Compare quality measures refresh.
 
In the Oct. 8 release, 171 agencies repeated their 5-star rating and there were 13 more 5-star agencies overall than last quarter, according to data provided by Seattle-based National Research Corporation. In total, about 2.8% of 9,118 agencies rated nationwide earned five stars.
 
CMS used data from April 2014 to March 2015 to compile the latest star ratings.
 
The public can also view CMS’ Oct. 8 release of Home Health Compare data, which show agencies nationwide achieved a more than 2% increase in improvement in bed transfer and improvement in bathing quality measures.
 
Learn more about the breakdowns in star rating and Home Health Compare data in next week's HHL.