Medicare calculates quality ratings for home health agencies based on OASIS assessments and Medicare claims data. These ratings are not limited to senior housing residents and are intended to assess home health agencies’ performance in general.

The quality rating shows how a home health agency compares to others on measurements of their performance, like how often the agency began their patient's care in a timely manner, or how often a patient got better at walking around. A rating of 3 to 3½ stars means the agency performed about the same as most agencies.

These star ratings are different from the consumer ratings that you see on websites for products like books, restaurants, or hotels that reflect averages of consumers' opinions. Since the star ratings rank all agencies from lowest to highest, some agencies will be ranked below others even though they're providing good quality care.

Ratings may not be available for every home health agency. More detail is available here: https://www.cms.gov/Medicare/Quality-Initiatives-Patient-Assessment-Instruments/HomeHealthQualityInits/HHQIHomeHealthStarRatings