Hospital Quality in Alabama — CMS Care Compare Data
100 hospitals are reported in Alabama in CMS Care Compare. 59 have a CMS overall star rating — per the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.
Last updated: June 20, 2026 · Source: CMS Care Compare (2026)
How many hospitals are in Alabama?
CMS Care Compare reports 100 hospitals in Alabama. Of those, 59 have a CMS overall star rating and 41 do not. Star ratings are not assigned to all hospital types — psychiatric hospitals, children's hospitals, and some specialty facilities are excluded from the overall rating calculation.
| Segment | Count |
|---|---|
| Total hospitals reported | 100 |
| Hospitals with CMS star rating | 59 |
| Hospitals without star rating | 41 |
Source: CMS Care Compare (2026).
How do Alabama hospitals compare on CMS star ratings?
The CMS overall star rating summarizes performance across quality measures on a 1–5 scale. A higher rating indicates relatively stronger measured performance. This is a comparison metric drawn from the CMS Care Compare dataset — it is not a recommendation, and no hospital is labeled "good" or "best" here.
| CMS star rating | Hospitals | Share of rated |
|---|---|---|
| 1 star | 5 | 8% |
| 2 stars | 18 | 31% |
| 3 stars | 25 | 42% |
| 4 stars | 11 | 19% |
| Not rated | 41 | — |
Source: CMS Care Compare (2026). Star ratings apply only to eligible hospital types.
What do patients report about hospital experiences in Alabama?
The average HCAHPS (Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems) patient-experience star across rated hospitals in Alabama is 3.2 out of 5, per CMS Care Compare. HCAHPS measures patient-reported experiences such as nurse and doctor communication, hospital cleanliness, and overall rating of the hospital. This is a state aggregate — individual hospital scores vary. View individual hospital HCAHPS results at Medicare.gov Care Compare .
Source: CMS Care Compare (2026). Average computed over hospitals with a reported HCAHPS star rating in this dataset.
How do Alabama hospitals perform on outcome measures vs. national benchmarks?
CMS compares each hospital's quality measures to national benchmarks. The figures below show the median number of measures per hospital in Alabama in each benchmark category — they describe the distribution across hospitals, not any individual hospital.
| Benchmark category | Median measures per hospital |
|---|---|
| Better than national rate | 0 |
| No different from national rate | 9 |
| Worse than national rate | 0 |
Source: CMS Care Compare (2026). Medians across hospitals in Alabama; not figures for any individual hospital.
What types of hospitals are in Alabama?
Acute Care Hospitals is the most common hospital type in Alabama (75 hospitals). Hospital type affects which quality measures CMS applies and whether an overall star rating is assigned.
| Hospital type | Count | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Acute Care Hospitals | 75 | 75% |
| Psychiatric | 9 | 9% |
| Critical Access Hospitals | 8 | 8% |
| Acute Care - Veterans Administration | 3 | 3% |
| Rural Emergency Hospital | 3 | 3% |
| Childrens | 2 | 2% |
Source: CMS Care Compare (2026).
Sources & provenance
Every figure on this page comes from CMS Care Compare (2026)
(source id src:cms:care-compare:2026),
published by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services:
https://www.medicare.gov/care-compare/.
This page shows state-level aggregate counts and distributions only. It does not identify, name, or score individual hospitals. No figure here constitutes a recommendation, ranking, or clinical judgment.
Data exported June 20, 2026 · content hash
d3ded57398891f09 ·
machine-readable brief: /care/states/al/context.md