Medicare Advantage 5-Star Ratings Report

CMS recently released a report of the ratings of Medicare Advantage plans, according to an article in Modern Healthcare. Medicare Advantage star ratings show insurers’ performance hasn’t improved explains that according to the data recently released by CMS:

the number of Medicare Advantage plans that performed well in the CMS’ star ratings program dropped slightly from last year. At the same time, the amount of insurers that receive certain ratings hasn’t changed significantly in recent years. The CMS said about 44% of the 384 active Medicare Advantage contracts in 2018 that also have Part D prescription drug coverage earned 4 stars or higher for their overall rating. This is a drop from 2017 when about 49% of the 363 active Medicare Advantage plans earned 4 stars or higher. Although the overall number of 4-star or high plans dropped slightly, more beneficiaries will be covered by the highest performing Medicare Advantage plans in 2018, the CMS said. Nearly 73% of Medicare Advantage enrollees are in contracts with 4 or more stars, compared to about 69% of enrollees in such plans last year. 

The story notes that the rankings tend to be pretty static and that those with 5 stars in the past seem to maintain that ranking. “Another consistent trend is that higher performers tend to be companies that have the most experience in Medicare Advantage. Contracts with more than 10 years in a Medicare Advantage program accounted for about 21% of 4.5-star ratings and 31% of 4-star and 3.5-star ratings.” The article discusses the factors that go into the 5 star rating system and offers some added information about the performance of Part D plans. The CMS press release is available here.