Hospital Compare gets thumbs up from National Quality Forum

Apr 3 2005

The National Quality Forum (NQF) has applauded the public release of hospital performance measurement data through the launch of Hospital Compare.

The public release of the data from the 17 NQF-endorsed measures marks the first time that standardized information about acute care hospitals has been made broadly available to the public.

"Today's debut of Hospital Compare represents a step forward for American healthcare quality improvement," said Kenneth W. Kizer, MD, MPH, President and CEO of the NQF. "The public will have access to standardized performance measurement data for nearly 4,000 acute care hospitals, allowing apples-to- apples comparison of some types of hospital care. Consumers and payers will have some actual data on which to do comparative shopping for healthcare, rather than relying simply on word of mouth or reputation." The information is accessible via http://www.medicare.gov/ and http://www.hospitalcompare.hhs.gov/.

For the past two years, the NQF has participated in the Hospital Quality Alliance (HQA), a coalition of healthcare provider and stakeholder organizations that has collaborated to build a system of reporting hospital performance measurement data to the federal government. It is through the HQA that Hospital Compare has been accomplished.

Kizer said that Hospital Compare should lead to better care in America's hospitals. "Since public reporting of performance data can be a powerful motivator for change, Hospital Compare will likely serve as a catalyst for hospitals to do better," he said.

To date, the NQF has endorsed for public reporting 65 national consensus standards for acute care hospital performance, 17 of which are being reported publicly under Hospital Compare. The NQF looks forward to Hospital Compare including all of the NQF-endorsed hospital measures.

The NQF is a private, not-for-profit, public benefit corporation created in 1999 to standardize healthcare quality measures and to design a national strategy for healthcare quality measurement and reporting. Established as a unique public-private partnership, the NQF has broad participation from all sectors of the healthcare industry.

http://www.qualityforum.org/