Only 251 hospitals scored five stars in Medicare's new ratings and some in the healthcare industry fear the system won’t accurately reflect quality and may place too much weight on patient reviews, according to an article on the Kaiser Health News website.

Medicare’s new ratings, posted recently on Hospital Compare, is based on 11 facets of patient experience, including how well doctors and nurses communicated, how well patients believed their pain was addressed, and whether they would recommend the hospital to others. Hospitals collect the reviews by randomly surveying adult patients – not just those on Medicare — after they leave the facility.

In assigning stars, Medicare compared hospitals against each other, essentially grading on a curve. It noted that “a 1-star rating does not mean that you will receive poor care from a hospital” and that “we suggest that you use the star rating along with other quality information when making decisions about choosing a hospital.”

The American Hospital Association also issued a caution to patients, saying: “There’s a risk of oversimplifying the complexity of quality care or misinterpreting what is important to a particular patient, especially since patients seek care for many different reasons.”

Read the article.