CMS certification 330270
Hospital for Special Surgery
535 East 70th Street, New York, NY 10021
Hospital for Special Surgery has a CMS overall rating of 5 out of 5 stars. 87% of patients who answered CMS's national survey would definitely recommend it, against a US average of 71%. Of the 8 death, complication, infection and readmission measures CMS could compare, it does better than the nation on 5 and worse on none.
Every figure on this page is published by CMS; we arrange and explain it, and score nothing ourselves.
What patients said
Answers from patients who stayed here, collected by CMS in the national HCAHPS survey: 897 completed surveys, 42% response rate, Oct 2024 – Sep 2025.
How Hospital for Special Surgery compares with nearby hospitals
The closest hospitals of the same kind that CMS rates or surveys - the same city first, then the same county and ZIP area. Every figure is CMS's: the overall star rating, the share of patients who would definitely recommend the hospital, the median time emergency patients spent before leaving, and how many death, complication, infection and readmission measures CMS found better or worse than the national rate.
| Hospital | CMS stars | Would recommend | ER median time | Vs the nation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hospital for Special SurgeryThis hospital | 5/5 | 87% | — | 5 better |
| Mount Sinai WestSame city | 4/5 | 62% | 4 h 32 min | 7 better 3 worse |
| Bellevue Hospital CenterSame city | 2/5 | 65% | 3 h 1 min | 2 better 2 worse |
| NYU Langone HospitalsSame city | 5/5 | 75% | 3 h 23 min | 21 better 3 worse |
| Metropolitan Hospital CenterSame city | 3/5 | 64% | 2 h 51 min | 3 better |
| Mount Sinai HospitalSame city | 4/5 | 69% | 4 h 8 min | 9 better 3 worse |
Hospitals differ in size and in how sick their patients are. CMS adjusts its outcome measures for that, but a star or a percentage is a starting point for questions, not a verdict. All hospitals in New York.
Deaths
How many patients died within 30 days of admission, adjusted by CMS for how sick they were. Lower is better. Data from Jul 2022 – Jun 2025.
| Measure | CMS comparison | This hospital | National |
|---|---|---|---|
| All patients, hospital-wide 2,898 cases | Too few cases | 2.4% | 3.9% |
6 more measures had too few cases here to report.
Complications
How often patients had serious complications, most of them after surgery, adjusted for how sick they were. Lower is better. Data from Jul 2022 – Jun 2024.
| Measure | CMS comparison | This hospital | National |
|---|---|---|---|
| Serious complications, combined measure | Better | 0.62 likely 0.33 – 0.92 | 1 |
| After hip or knee replacement 2,429 cases | Too few cases | 2.9% | 4.1% |
| Deaths after a serious but treatable surgical complication 64 cases | No different | 156.81 per 1,000 likely 94.19 per 1,000 – 219.42 per 1,000 | 173.3 per 1,000 |
| Pressure ulcers (bed sores) 4,367 cases | No different | 0.22 per 1,000 likely 0 per 1,000 – 1.01 per 1,000 | 0.63 per 1,000 |
| Collapsed lung caused by a procedure 6,372 cases | No different | 0.17 per 1,000 likely 0 per 1,000 – 0.38 per 1,000 | 0.21 per 1,000 |
| Broken bones from falls in the hospital 6,143 cases | No different | 0.27 per 1,000 likely 0.09 per 1,000 – 0.44 per 1,000 | 0.27 per 1,000 |
| Bleeding or hematoma after surgery 6,107 cases | No different | 2.79 per 1,000 likely 1.5 per 1,000 – 4.09 per 1,000 | 2.34 per 1,000 |
| Kidney injury needing dialysis after surgery 5,822 cases | No different | 1.25 per 1,000 likely 0 per 1,000 – 2.75 per 1,000 | 1.67 per 1,000 |
| Breathing failure after surgery 5,850 cases | Better | 2.63 per 1,000 likely 0 per 1,000 – 7.35 per 1,000 | 9.42 per 1,000 |
| Blood clots in the lungs or legs after surgery 6,278 cases | No different | 4.41 per 1,000 likely 3.04 per 1,000 – 5.78 per 1,000 | 3.52 per 1,000 |
| Sepsis after surgery 5,533 cases | No different | 2.53 per 1,000 likely 0 per 1,000 – 5.31 per 1,000 | 5.27 per 1,000 |
| Surgical wound splitting open 1,108 cases | No different | 1.7 per 1,000 likely 0.2 per 1,000 – 3.21 per 1,000 | 1.77 per 1,000 |
| Accidental cut or tear during abdominal surgery 1,412 cases | No different | 0.93 per 1,000 likely 0 per 1,000 – 1.96 per 1,000 | 1.06 per 1,000 |
Infections caught in the hospital
Standardized infection ratio: 1.0 means as many infections as CMS predicted for a hospital like this one. Lower is better. Data from Oct 2024 – Sep 2025.
| Measure | CMS comparison | This hospital | National |
|---|---|---|---|
| C. diff intestinal infections | Better | 0.17 likely 0.01 – 0.81 | 1 |
5 more measures had too few cases here to report.
Readmissions and return visits
How often patients had to come back to a hospital after going home. Lower is better. Data from Jul 2023 – Jun 2025.
| Measure | CMS comparison | This hospital | National |
|---|---|---|---|
| Readmitted after hip or knee replacement 2,434 cases | Too few cases | 3.8% | 5.8% |
| Unplanned visits after outpatient surgery 2,600 cases | Better | 0.7 likely 0.5 – 0.8 | — |
12 more measures had too few cases here to report.
Clinicians registered at this address
923 clinicians give this hospital's street address as their practice location in NPPES, the federal provider registry, plus 96 residents and trainees. The same address can take in offices and clinics in the building, and a listing does not prove admitting privileges or current employment.
| Specialty | Clinicians |
|---|---|
| Physician Assistant | 129 |
| Physical Therapist | 106 |
| Anesthesiology | 87 |
| Orthopaedic Surgery | 61 |
| Surgical | 58 |
| Diagnostic Radiology | 36 |
| Specialist | 32 |
| Family | 30 |
| Internal Medicine | 29 |
| Pediatrics | 25 |
| Sports Medicine | 25 |
| Adult Health | 24 |
First 12 alphabetically
Money from drug and device companies
Drug and device makers have to report what they pay teaching hospitals to CMS's Open Payments program. At many teaching hospitals most of it is research funding, or royalties for inventions the hospital licensed to a company. A payment on its own does not show a conflict of interest.
- 2019 $8.2M
- 2020 $6.2M
- 2021 $4.4M
- 2022 $3.8M
- 2023 $3.6M
- 2024 $4.5M
- 2025 $3.9M
What the 2025 general payments were for
| Type of payment | Amount | Payments |
|---|---|---|
| Grants | $928,548 | 40 |
| Royalties and licensing fees | $540,546 | 17 |
| Charitable contributions | $495,000 | 1 |
| Space rental and facility fees | $271,145 | 41 |
| Debt forgiveness | $60,275 | 11 |
| Speaking, teaching and other services | $55,000 | 2 |
| Consulting fees | $25,392 | 4 |
| Medical devices and supplies on long-term loan | $5,651 | 1 |
| Education | $3,521 | 3 |
| Gifts | $3,500 | 1 |
| Food and beverage | $255 | 1 |
Largest paying companies, 2025
| Company | Amount | Payments |
|---|---|---|
| Amgen Inc. | $646,561 | 4 |
| Exactech, INC. | $529,021 | 5 |
| Ge Healthcare | $473,751 | 5 |
| Gilead Sciences, Inc. | $300,000 | 1 |
| Smith+Nephew, Inc. | $246,458 | 44 |
| Radius Health, Inc. | $198,428 | 4 |
| Stryker Corporation | $187,557 | 21 |
| Expanding Innovations, Inc. | $186,200 | 2 |
Largest research studies funded here, 2025
| Study | Amount |
|---|---|
| MR Research Study GE HEALTHCARE | $441,015 |
| A Randomized, Double-blind, Placebo-controlled Phase 4 Clinical Trial to Evaluate the Long-term Safety and Efficacy of Avacopan in Participants With … Amgen Inc. | $143,161 |
| A Prospective Cohort Post Market Registry Evaluating Outcomes of Bridge-Enhanced ACL Restoration (BEAR) Miach Orthopaedics, Inc. · NCT05398341 | $132,594 |
| Abaloparatide Added to Ongoing Denosumab vs Continued Denosumab Alone Radius Health, Inc. | $109,701 |
| Analysis of T and B Cell Repertoire Changes and CTLA4 Genetics and Gene Expression to Understand the Mechanisms of Treatment Response to Orencia in R… E.R. Squibb & Sons, L.L.C. | $98,953 |
| Can Abaloparatide Improve Outcomes after Lumbar Spine Fusion Surgery Radius Health, Inc. | $88,727 |
| CLINICAL OUTCOMES REPORTING STUDY AT THE HOSPITAL FOR SPECIAL SURGERY Stryker Corporation | $65,784 |
| A Prospective MultiCenter PreMarket Clinical Study to Evaluate the Performance of the REAL INTELLIGENCE Tensioner as an Accessory to the CORI Surgica… Smith+Nephew, Inc. | $54,309 |
Amounts are as the paying companies reported them to CMS; Open Payments data retrieved 13 Sep 2026. Full record on CMS Open Payments.
How to read this page
- Everything here is published by CMS on Care Compare. We arrange it and explain it; the star ratings and the better / worse verdicts are CMS's, not ours.
- “No different” is the most common result on most measures at most hospitals. CMS only calls a result better or worse when the difference from the national rate is statistically clear.
- Death, complication and readmission rates are adjusted by CMS for how sick patients were, so hospitals that treat sicker patients can be compared fairly.
- Infection results are ratios: 1.0 means as many infections as CMS predicted for a hospital like this one, below 1.0 is fewer.
- These are hospital-wide results. They do not rate an individual doctor, nurse or department, and they are not medical advice.
CMS Care Compare data retrieved 4 Oct 2026, refreshed weekly. Where this data comes from and how we handle it · Report an error
Common questions about Hospital for Special Surgery
Is Hospital for Special Surgery a good hospital?
Hospital for Special Surgery has a CMS overall rating of 5 out of 5 stars. Of the 8 death, complication, infection and readmission measures CMS could compare, it does better than the nation on 5 and worse on none. These are hospital-wide results published by CMS; they do not rate individual doctors or departments.
Would patients recommend Hospital for Special Surgery?
87% of patients who answered CMS's national survey would definitely recommend it, against a US average of 71%. The figure comes from 897 completed HCAHPS surveys.
Does Hospital for Special Surgery have an emergency room?
No. CMS does not list emergency services at Hospital for Special Surgery.
Does Hospital for Special Surgery receive money from drug and device companies?
Drug and device makers reported $3.9M in payments to Hospital for Special Surgery for 2025, under the federal Open Payments program. A payment on its own does not show a conflict of interest.