Medicare Advantage Stars
Last Updated: Thursday, April 30, 2026
Background
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) rates Medicare Advantage plans and prescription drug plans separately on a scale of one to five stars, with five representing the highest quality. The Star Rating for Medicare Advantage plans is an overall measure of the plan's quality, and is a cumulative indicator of: quality of care, access to care, beneficiary satisfaction, customer service, and responsiveness to member needs. The intent of the program is to tie quality of care to financial reimbursements, whereby rewarding high performing plans and forcing low performing plans to exit the market.
The quality scores for Medicare Advantage plans are based on over 50 distinct individual measures that are derived from four sources:
- Healthcare Effectiveness Data and Information Set (HEDIS®)
- Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (CAHPS®) program
- Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS)
- Health Outcomes Survey (HOS)
