On September 3, under the leadership of President Trump, CMS launched Care Compare, a streamlined
redesign of eight existing CMS health care compare tools available on Medicare.gov. Care Compare provides
a single user-friendly interface that patients and caregivers can use to make informed decisions about health
care based on cost, quality of care, volume of services, and other data. With just one click, patients can find
information that is easy to understand about doctors, hospitals, nursing homes, and other health care services
instead of searching through multiple tools.
“President Trump has long recognized that a free and vibrant health care market is one in which patients have
what they need to make informed decisions based on cost and quality,” said CMS Administrator Seema
Verma. “By aggregating all eight of CMS’ quality tools into a single interface, patients can easily research
different providers and facilities before they entrust themselves to their care. Today’s launch of Care Compare
is the next step in fulfilling our eMedicare promise. Our Administration is committed to ensuring our tools are
robust and beneficial to patients.”
Currently, someone who is planning to have bypass surgery would need to visit Hospital Compare, Nursing
Home Compare, and Home Health Compare individually to research providers for the different phases of their
surgery and rehabilitation. Now, those patients can start their search at Care Compare to find and compare
providers that meet their health care needs that includes information about quality measures presented
similarly and clearly across all provider types and care settings.
Patients will also find helpful hints and guides throughout Care Compare. While the measures and data used
for Care Compare have not changed, the way information is displayed is now different. During a transition
period, consumers and other stakeholders will be able to use the original eight compare tools while CMS
continues to gather feedback and considers additional improvements to the tool. As new information about
quality and cost are added to the compare tools, Care Compare will be updated to reflect that information.
In conjunction with the launch of Care Compare, additional improvements have been made to other CMS data
tools to help Medicare beneficiaries compare costs:
• Procedure Price Look Up tool now includes physician fees in addition to facility fees, offering people
with Medicare a more accurate prediction of the true out-of-pocket costs
• Provider Data Catalog better serves innovators and stakeholders who are interested in detailed CMS
data and use interactive and downloadable datasets like those currently available on data.Medicare.gov
See the full text of this excerpted CMS Press Release (issued September 3).