There is a substantial amount of information about individual hospitals that is available to the public. You should find the following informative:           1. Internal Revenue Service Form 990 ("Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax") -- This annual report is an excellent source for consumers to review important hospital information, from the hospital's annual financial performance, to the amount of charity care and community service rendered. All tax-exempt hospitals and hospital systems are mandated to have a copy available for public review. They are also required to provide a copy to any requesting individual (regulations allow the hospital to charge $1 for the first page and 15 cents for each additional page). 2. State reports -- All states have definitive hospital reporting requirements, and some compile this information into various quality reports (and individual hospital "report cards") that are made available to the public. Reviewing such information as a hospital's comparative infectious disease rate can be enlightening. Contact the respective state Department of Health (or equivalent) to ascertain what is available. 3. Hospital reports -- Do not overlook asking a hospital directly for information. In addition to the mandated reports (such as IRS Form 990 reviewed above), many publish annual reports, and a variety of other internally generated reports, that are commonly used for marketing purposes. 4. www.healthgrades.com -- Website of a company that uses easy to understand quality ratings (1 to 5 stars) to rate many different procedures/diagnoses. The basic hospital ratings are free on the website, with detailed hospital quality reports offered for a fee. The company uses publicly available data, e.g., Medicare and Medicaid reports, from which it develops its ratings. 5. www.jointcommission.org -- Website of The Joint Commission, which is the national accrediting organization for most hospitals in the United States. Use "Quality Check" to review the accreditation status of a hospital, as well as to review other quality of care information. 6. www.hospitalcompare.hhs.gov -- Website of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. This website was only implemented in 2005, and currently contains limited comparative quality measures; i.e., heart attack, heart failure and pneumonia.