As consumer-driven health plans gain momentum among employers, educated and informed employees are key to their success.  A new joint initiative announced by the American Hospital Association, Federation of American Hospitals, Association of Medical Colleges and other industry groups aims to give consumers detailed hospital information that will allow them to compare hospital performance based on quality-of-care indicators.

The program asks hospitals to voluntarily report data on 10 quality measures for acute heart attacks, congestive heart failure and pneumonia.  The reports will initially track procedures (such as how often pneumococcal vaccines are administered) rather than patient outcomes, such as mortality rates.  However, John Rother, policy director for the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP), says the organization will push to add outcomes measurements to the project.  "Consumers are going to want to know who's getting well and who isn't, at a particular institution".

Beginning next summer, the data will be released as quality report cards and posted on the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services Web site www.cms.hhs.gov   As part of the initiative, the CMS Web site will also feature results from a patient discharge survey to reveal patient experiences at various facilities