CMS Releases 5-Star Cut Table

• By: Maureen Carland
• On: 04/14/2025 12:36:17
• In: Quality/Regulatory

The Five-Star State-Level Cut Tables refer to the scoring thresholds used by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to assign star ratings to nursing homes within each state, as part of the CMS Nursing Home Five-Star Quality Rating System. These cut points are used to determine a facility's star rating for the Quality Measures (QM) domain and can vary by state and over time.
The Five-Star Cut Tables show how many points a facility must earn on its quality measures to achieve:

• 1 star (lowest)
• 2 stars
• 3 stars
• 4 stars
• 5 stars (highest)

CMS uses percentile-based thresholds: for example, the top 10% of facilities in a state may get 5 stars, the middle 70% 2–4 stars, and the bottom 20% get 1 star.
These cut tables:

• Help facilities understand how their Quality Measure scores compare to others in the state.
• Influence their overall star rating, which is used on Medicare's Care Compare website and in public reporting.

 
Click here to access the latest table
 
Staff Contact: mcarland@mehca.org