Summary of 2025 Medicare Star Rating Cut Points

This white paper provides an analysis of the 2025 Medicare Star Rating cut points changes as released by CMS in September 2024. It discusses the methodology employed, including the Tukey Outer Fence Outlier removal logic, which was applied for the first time in the 2024 Star Ratings. The paper outlines how these changes, along with the application of guardrails, have influenced the overall quality performance and the cut points for Medicare Advantage and Part D contracts. The document details the significant increase in cut points for various measures, indicating a trend towards higher performance standards. It also highlights the exclusion of specific measures from the analysis and provides a summary of cut point changes categorized by measure type. The findings suggest that while many cut points have increased, the implementation of guardrails continues to limit the movement of these ratings, reflecting ongoing challenges in maintaining or improving Star Ratings. The paper includes figures and charts to illustrate the changes in measure-level cut points between the 2024 and 2025 ratings.