Seniors aren't familiar with and don't use Medicare Star ratings for plan selection

Few seniors are familiar with the Medicare Star Quality Ratings for Medicare plans from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and even those who do know about them rarely use the information to help select their Medicare plan.

These are the findings of a recent Harris Interactive survey conducted for Kaiser Permanente aimed at finding how familiar Medicare beneficiaries are with the CMS rating system.

"Evaluating a Medicare plan can be challenging,” said Jed Weissberg, MD, senior vice president, Hospitals, Quality and Care Delivery Excellence, Kaiser Permanente. “There are many things to consider, but quality should be at the top of any consumer's list. Educating consumers about and encouraging them to use the Medicare Star Quality Ratings helps to ensure that Medicare beneficiaries are receiving only the best available care."

But the survey showed the annual ratings are not used regularly by seniors to help them make their MA plan selections. Only 18 percent of Medicare-eligible seniors said that they are familiar with the rating system and, of that group, less than one-third have used the system to select their health plan. Even more significantly, only 2 percent of respondents were aware of how their current plans rates.

"As health services providers, it is our responsibility to maintain the highest levels of quality," said Weissberg, in a press release detailing the survey results. "We urge seniors to hold their Medicare providers accountable by taking advantage of the Medicare Star Quality Ratings and selecting plans that meet and exceed quality standards."

One roadblock to seniors becoming more familiar of the star ratings is that most don’t know where to turn to find ratings information. Among the 483 Medicare-aged people questioned for the survey, less than 30 percent knew where to find the information.