Glossary
Definitions for the hospital quality, pricing, and certification terms used across CareRanks.
- CMS
- Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. The federal agency that publishes hospital quality ratings, certifications, and pricing rules.
- DRG (MS-DRG)
- Diagnosis Related Group. A federal classification system that groups hospital inpatient stays by clinical category for billing. Each DRG represents a complete stay, not a single procedure.
- Gross charge
- A hospital's published list price for a service. Almost no one pays this amount — insurance, Medicare, Medicaid, and uninsured cash-pay discounts all reduce it.
- HCAHPS
- Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems. The national patient experience survey administered to discharged hospital patients.
- IPFQR
- Inpatient Psychiatric Facility Quality Reporting program. The quality framework used to evaluate psychiatric hospitals (which are not assigned CMS star ratings).
- IRF
- Inpatient Rehabilitation Facility. A hospital specializing in intensive rehabilitation following major surgery, stroke, or trauma.
- LTACH
- Long-Term Acute Care Hospital. A facility serving patients who need extended acute medical care, such as ventilator weaning or complex wound care.
- MRF
- Machine-Readable File. A standardized pricing file that every U.S. hospital is required to publish under the CMS Hospital Price Transparency Rule.
- Negotiated rate
- The price a specific insurance plan has negotiated to pay a hospital for a given service. Usually significantly lower than the gross charge.
- Safety Net Hospital (DSH)
- Disproportionate Share Hospital. A facility that serves a high proportion of low-income and uninsured patients and receives federal payment adjustments accordingly.
- Star rating
- The CMS Overall Hospital Quality Star Rating — a 1-to-5-star summary score for acute care hospitals, updated quarterly. Specialty facilities are not assigned star ratings.
- Teaching hospital
- A hospital that trains medical residents. Major teaching hospitals (academic medical centers) treat more complex cases and may receive lower CMS star ratings because of patient mix, not lower quality.
- Trauma level (I–V)
- A state-designated trauma center classification, with Level I being the most comprehensive (24/7 specialists, research) and Level V being basic stabilization and transfer.