Hospital Quality Measurement Leaves the ‘Pong Era’ - WSJ

Quick: Which of your local hospitals treats patients best? And how does it compare with facilities in the next town?

You’d have been out of luck getting much of an answer in most parts of the country until now. But this afternoon, Mike Leavitt, secretary of Health and Human Services, unveiled the addition of patient satisfaction data to Medicare’s three-year-old Hospital Compare Web site. The changes are part of a continuing effort by HHS to improve the measurement of health quality and, in the process, to spur better care....