In an effort to provide objective, reliable data about health care delivered throughout the United States, hospitals and the federal government have developed a standardized set of 21 core measures to help consumers evaluate the quality of care.
Every three months, Medicare issues a Quality Report Card with each hospital's compliance rates for treating patients with pneumonia, congestive heart failure, acute myocardial infarction (heart attack) and major surgical procedures. This enables consumers to compare individual hospitals with one another, in addition to state and national averages.
Additional information about hospital quality is available to consumers at the following Web sites:
www.hospitalcompare.hhs.gov/hospital
www.jointcommission.org/performancemeasurement
www.carescience.com
www.cms.hhs.gov/center/quality.asp