Five Things Hospital Ratings Tell You—And What To Ask Next
Hospital star ratings compress quality into digestible scores, but they mask trade-offs and gaps that matter for your care.
• What ratings measure: mortality, safety, readmissions, patient experience, timeliness
• What they don't: specialty depth, rare-disease expertise, surgical volume by procedure
• Questions to ask your doctor: Is this hospital strong in your specific condition?
• Check the footnotes: ratings weight recent data differently and may lag by months
• Use ratings as a floor, not a ceiling: combine with peer referrals and specialty rankings