How the quality scores work
We believe in showing our work. Here’s exactly where the data comes from, how we calculate the Wayven Quality Score, and what it means.
Where the data comes from
All of the quality information on Wayven comes from CMS Care Compare, a program run by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. CMS is the federal agency that certifies, regulates, and monitors every Medicare-certified hospice provider in the United States.
CMS collects this data through three main channels:
- Hospice Item Set (HIS) — clinical quality measures reported by hospice providers at admission and discharge, covering pain screening, symptom management, and care planning.
- CAHPS Hospice Survey — the Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems survey, which captures the experiences of patients’ family members and caregivers after the patient’s death.
- Hospice Care Index (HCI) — a CMS-developed composite score (1–10) that evaluates how well a hospice performs across ten process measures.
We don’t collect our own reviews, accept user submissions, or use any data source other than CMS. What you see on this site is what the government reported.
The Wayven Quality Score
The Wayven Quality Score is a composite score from 0 to 100 that we calculate for each provider. It combines data from across the CMS datasets into a single number that reflects the overall quality of care a hospice delivers.
Rather than showing you dozens of individual measures, we organize them into three pillars that represent what matters most to patients and families. Each pillar is weighted to reflect its importance:
Comfort & Pain Management
35% weight
Measures whether the provider is effectively managing pain and symptoms — the core of what hospice care is supposed to do.
Includes: Visits in last days of life, pain screening rate, pain assessment rate, dyspnea screening rate, dyspnea treatment rate, and opioid bowel regimen rate.
Family Experience
35% weight
Captures how families rate the care their loved one received, from communication and respect to emotional support and training.
Includes: Overall CAHPS rating, willingness to recommend, team communication, respectful treatment, emotional and spiritual support, caregiver training, timely care, treatment preferences documented, and beliefs/values addressed.
Process Integrity
30% weight
Evaluates whether the provider follows best practices for assessments, documentation, and care coordination.
Includes: Hospice Care Index (HCI) score and HIS composite measure.
Each pillar score is the average of its available measures (all normalized to a 0–100 scale). The final Wayven Quality Score is the weighted average of the three pillar scores.
Handling missing data
Not every provider has data for every measure. Smaller or newer hospices may not have enough patients to generate reliable numbers. To prevent misleading scores, we apply two rules:
- Each pillar requires at least 2 reported measures to produce a pillar score. If a pillar has fewer than 2 measures, it’s excluded from the calculation entirely.
- A provider needs at least 2 of 3 pillar scores to receive a Wayven Quality Score. If they don’t meet this threshold, we show “No data” instead of guessing.
When a pillar is missing, the remaining pillars’ weights are redistributed proportionally. For example, if only Comfort and Family have data, the score is calculated from those two pillars at roughly 50/50 weighting.
How providers are ranked
On listing pages, providers are sorted by their Wayven Quality Score from highest to lowest. Providers without a score appear at the bottom.
On state ranking pages, we require an HCI score to be included in the top providers list. This ensures the ranked providers have the most complete data available. When providers have the same Quality Score, we break ties using their HCI score, then by state percentile.
The percentile shown on state pages reflects where a provider ranks among all scored providers in that state based on the Wayven Quality Score — not the older HCI-based percentile from CMS.
What the score levels mean
Based on a provider’s Wayven Quality Score, we assign one of five levels. These are meant to be helpful starting points, not final judgments.
Excellent
80–100This provider performs well above average across multiple quality pillars. Their scores indicate consistently strong care quality and family satisfaction.
Good
65–79This provider performs above average in most quality areas. Their scores suggest better-than-typical care.
Average
50–64This provider performs roughly in line with the average. This doesn’t mean bad — it means about what you’d expect.
Below Average
35–49This provider performs below average in one or more quality areas. It’s worth looking at the specific pillars to understand where they fall short.
Poor
0–34This provider scores significantly below average. Review the individual pillar scores and raw measures carefully before making a decision.
How often data is updated
CMS publishes updated hospice quality data on a regular cycle, typically quarterly. We update Wayven each time new data becomes available. Scores on this site reflect the most recently published reporting period.
Because CMS data is retrospective — meaning it covers a reporting period that has already ended — there is always some lag between when care was delivered and when the data appears here. This is true of all CMS quality reporting.
Limitations of the data
We want to be upfront about what this data can and cannot tell you.
Data is retrospective
Scores reflect a past reporting period. A provider’s current care quality may be better or worse than what the most recent data shows, especially if they’ve changed leadership, staffing, or practices.
Not every measure is reported
Smaller providers may not have enough patients to generate reliable data on every measure. When data is unavailable, we note it on the provider’s profile rather than guessing. If too much data is missing, we don’t show a score at all.
Numbers don’t capture everything
Quality scores can’t measure the warmth of a nurse, the comfort of a chaplain’s visit, or how well a team handles your family’s unique needs. Use this data as a starting point, then talk to providers directly.
This is not medical advice
Wayven is an informational resource. We do not recommend specific providers or offer clinical guidance. Always consult with your loved one’s healthcare team when making care decisions.