The mortality data join a growing collection of clinical care information on the Hospital Compare Web site that attempts to improve consumer education about quality of care. The HQA will continue to build the Web site with an expanded range of information, including the following:

-- Patient experience of care data containing consumer insight about nurse and physician performance and responsiveness, hospital cleanliness and noise levels, pain control and discharge planning


-- Expanded information about surgical care, including steps taken to prevent blood clots, surgical site infections and post-surgical complications

-- Pediatric asthma treatment - the first standardized information specifically regarding children's care

-- Prevention of infections and other complications of care in intensive care and other critical care units

The HQA chose these measures because they assess the care provided to patients suffering from common conditions that cause patients to be admitted to a hospital. To ensure standardization, the HQA only chooses measures that have been endorsed by the NQF.

The HQA is a voluntary public-private initiative that includes hospitals, physicians, nurses, federal agencies, quality experts, consumer and business groups. HQA members collaborate to improve the quality of care provided by the nation's hospitals by measuring and publicly reporting information about this care. The goal of the HQA is to collect and report data on a robust set of standardized and easy-to-understand hospital quality measures.

More than 4,000 hospitals - including virtually all acute care hospitals - have voluntarily submitted quality information to share with the public on the initial set of conditions - heart attack, heart failure and pneumonia. The HQA is continuing its efforts to determine useful information to include on the Hospital Compare Web site in the future.

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