The CMS announced on Thursday that patient experience scores and star ratings have been added to the Physician Compare website for patients and caregivers to view.
The site will now display physicians' 2016 performance under the Physician Quality Reporting System as star ratings. Patient survey scores from the Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems surveys will be listed on "group pages" that show the overall performance of a physician practice instead of individual doctors.
The measures used to get a composite 5-star rating score for doctors involve preventive care, patient safety, care planning, diabetes, behavioral health and heart disease.
Physician Compare was also updated to show 2016 data from the Shared Savings Program.
Earlier this week, the CMS also announced it added four new quality measures for healthcare consumers to view on the Inpatient Rehabilitation Facility and Long-Term Care Hospital Compare websites.
The CMS' suite of Compare sites were mandated under the Affordable Care Act and designed to encourage Medicare beneficiaries to seek out high-quality healthcare. However, a few of them have been flagged for having incorrect information. As recently as last week, the CMS said an update to its Hospice Compare website would be delayed while some information was corrected.
CMS Administrator Seema Verma has publicly touted her commitment to improving patients' access to information that allows them to shop for their care.