Hospital report cards: intent, impact, and illusion.

The public is currently being bombarded with a growing number of hospital report cards revealing hospital-specific outcome data. The original intent of these report cards was to provide information to the public to enable them to make a more educated choice in selecting health care services and to stimulate provider activities to improve outcomes of care. Serious issues have been raised about the accuracy, validity, meaningfulness, and interpretability of these reports, which has affected both provider and consumer response. With public image and financial implications on the line, hospitals need to be aware of these reports and take the necessary steps to improve outcomes of care.