Community communications: hospital uses its own report card to tell public how it's providing quality care.

Over the years, many types of healthcare report cards have emerged to give consumers comparative quality information right at their fingertips. One organization, though, Licking Memorial Health Systems of Newark, OH, has created a report card over the past 3 years to tell the community how it is doing--keeping in mind healthcare issues that affect every member of the community. Getting these data at the hospital level required a new approach at the departmental levels.