A comprehensive unit-based safety program (CUSP) in surgery: improving quality through transparency.

Many medical errors can be attributed to large and complex health care systems in which care is increasingly fragmented. Hospitals with good safety cultures have lower complication rates, and improved patient and staff satisfaction. Transparency in health care is an increasingly recognized means to improve outcomes by allowing the free market to reward hospitals with a strong safety culture, good outcomes, and compliance with evidence-based medicine. As more data become available regarding strategies that work to improve patient safety and such strategies are more widely implemented, significant improvements in the quality of care that is delivered nationwide should become apparent.