Illinois consumers can view hospital quality data on state-sponsored website.

Six years after Illinois passed "legislation in 2003" calling "for a Hospital Report Card and Consumer Guide" to "document hospital-acquired infections and the adequacy of nursing staffs," as well as "to compare hospitals' performance on 30 leading medical procedures with wide variation in outcomes and costs," the "report card and consumer guide are" now "a reality" for "11 conditions," with "more data" to "be added in the months ahead."

For the first time, consumers can pore over abundant data -- much of it previously unpublished -- about Illinois hospitals and surgery centers on a state-sponsored website." These "data include information about what these medical providers charge, how many procedures they perform, how often they deliver recommended care, and how consumers rate their care." The Tribune adds that "some of the information comes from Medicare Compare, published by the federal government, but it is presented on the state website in a much more accessible form."

But Public report cards ranking performance may not encourage hospitals to improve.
One might assume that public report cards ranking their performance would encourage hospitals to improve, but a new...study " published in the Journal of the American Medical Association "finds that isn't the case." Investigators "examined medical records from 86 hospitals in Ontario that admitted patients with heart attack or heart failure." The researchers found that "even after report cards were released, the hospitals, in general, didn't show improvement.

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