This report examines participation and quality measure results for Critical Access Hospitals (CAHs) in the seventh year of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Hospital Compare public reporting database. Although CAHs do not face the same financial incentives as hospitals paid under the Medicare Prospective Payment System (PPS) to participate, the Hospital Compare initiative provides an important opportunity for CAHs to assess and improve their performance on national standards of care. This report updates previous national reports on Hospital Compare results for CAHs.  There is also a policy brief that profiles these same Year 7 results.

The Flex Monitoring Team also produces state-specific reports with more detailed results. 

Key Findings:

• The 2010 CAH national participation rate in Hospital Compare (defined as publicly reporting data on at least one inpatient process of care measure) is 74%. 
• By state, CAH reporting on inpatient measures ranges from 22% to 100%. Eight states have 100% of CAHs reporting while five states have fewer than half of CAHs reporting. 
• 21% of CAHs reported data on at least one outpatient measure. By state, outpatient reporting ranges from 0% to 84% of CAHs. 
• 38% of CAHs reported HCAHPS data. State HCAHPS reporting ranges from 0% to 100% of CAHs. 
• One-fourth of CAHs are not publicly reporting any quality data to Hospital Compare. 
• The percent of CAH patients receiving recommended care has increased for nearly all measures, but CAHs continue to have lower scores relative to rural and urban PPS hospitals on several measures.
• On average, CAHs have significantly higher ratings on HCAHPS measures than all US hospitals.
• As of June 2012, over 1000 of the 1328 CAHs had signed a Memorandum of Understanding to participate in the Flex Medicare Beneficiary Quality Improvement Program.