Hospital Compare

Hospital Compare is a website that lets consumers compare the quality of hospital outpatient services. The site is hosted by the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS).

Users can type in a zip code or city and state and specify a general search, a search based on a particular medical condition, or a search based on specific search procedures. Search results will provide comparable data for up to three hospitals. A general search will bring up data on patients’ experiences, the process and outcome of care measures, use and overuse of medical imaging and the volume of Medicare payments.

The data in Hospital Compare comes from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), another agency within HHS. The AHRQ uses a system of quality indicators to determine the standards of quality health care and publishes its results in an annual survey as well as on Hospital Compare.