Home-health research · National data report

Where CMS Reports the Least: Home-Health Data by State

Whether CMS reports a quality star for a home health agency depends heavily on where the agency is. This report measures that gap state by state — because for home health, how much of the public record exists is itself the first quality signal a family encounters.

By SeniorCareRating.com Editorial Team · Published 2026-08-01 · CMS data released 2026-08-03

What the state-level data shows

Nationally, CMS assigns a quality-of-patient-care star to 64.2% of the 12,392 Medicare-certified home health agencies in this snapshot. That average hides a wide state-to-state spread: in Mississippi, 100% of agencies carry a star, while in Ohio only 29.5% do — a gap of 70.5 percentage points. 3,096 agencies (25%) have neither a star nor a single reported quality measure. A missing star is not a poor rating — but it means the usefulness of CMS public data depends heavily on which state a family is searching in. This is analysis of public CMS data, not a ranking; SeniorCareRating.com does not rate providers or states.
Agencies analyzed
12,392
Medicare-certified
With a CMS star, nationally
64.2%
7,961 agencies
Highest state coverage
100%
Mississippi
Lowest state coverage
29.5%
Ohio

Where CMS reports the most

States where the largest share of agencies carry a CMS quality star.

Highest star coverage, by state

The share of each state's Medicare-certified agencies that carry a CMS quality-of-patient-care star.

National coverage: 64.2% of 12,392 agencies.

CMS-reported data · updated 2026-08-03 · site-calculated context, not a CMS rating

Methodology
Share = agencies with a CMS star ÷ all Medicare-certified agencies in the state. States with fewer than 20 agencies are excluded from rankings (7 excluded) because a share computed over a handful of agencies is statistical noise; they remain in the national totals.

Where CMS reports the least

States where the smallest share of agencies carry a CMS quality star.

Lowest star coverage, by state

The states where a family is most likely to encounter agencies CMS cannot rate.

Lower shares mean thinner public data, not worse care.

Low coverage concentrates where agencies are small or new — it describes the public record, not the care delivered.

CMS-reported data · updated 2026-08-03 · site-calculated context, not a CMS rating

Methodology
Same calculation and exclusions as above.

Why coverage varies this much

The mechanics behind the gap, from CMS's own reporting rules.

CMS only publishes a star when an agency has enough Medicare patient episodes in the reporting window to compute one reliably. States with many small, new, or rapidly multiplying agencies therefore show low coverage — the certification grew faster than the reporting history. The practical consequence for a family: in a low-coverage state, the first filter worth applying is not the star value but whether CMS reports anything at all. Our search workspace exposes that directly ("only show agencies with CMS quality data"), and each state page — for example Ohio — now states plainly how many of its agencies CMS reports on.

Limits of this analysis

What the public data can and cannot tell you.

These figures describe a dated CMS snapshot, not live conditions, and coverage shares describe the public record — not the quality of care delivered in any state. Nothing here recommends any agency or state. Confirm the current record on Medicare’s Care Compare. See Methodology and Data updates.

SeniorCareRating.com summarizes public CMS data. It is not affiliated with CMS, Medicare.gov, or any nursing home. Data may lag current conditions. This is not medical, legal, or care-placement advice — always verify with official sources and qualified professionals.