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Step 1
Enter in your Web browser the Hospital Compare Web address http://www.hospitalcompare.hhs.gov
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Step 2
Scroll half-way down the page and select a link from the yellow box. You can choose to search for hospitals by name, city, zip code, state and county. For this example, we will use zip code.
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Step 3
Click on the word "zip" and then enter in a zip code and select a distance surrounding the zip code that you wish to search from the drop-down menu. Click the "next step" button.
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Step 4
On the screen, you should see a list of hospitals. You can click on the box next to each name of the hospitals you wish to compare. It will also allow you to select just one hospital. After you check the boxes, scroll down and click the "next step" button.
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Step 5
This menu allows you to choose the conditions you want compared between each hospital, which is where things can get tricky.
The Hospital Compare site lists four care delivery topics with a plus sign next to each: heart attack, heart failure, pneumonia and surgical care. It requires you to view graphs for each topic individually. For example, you cannot compare how well hospitals offer smoking cessation to heart attack patients with how well hospitals offer smoking cessation to pneumonia patients.
To choose a condition such as how often hospitals give heart attack patients aspirin, you click on the topic "heart attack" to release its menu. Then you check the box next to the description of the condition. Finally, click "view graphs" at the bottom of the screen. -
Step 6
After looking at the graph you select, scroll down to read the explanation for why this information is important. The site will also list links to additional resources so you can better assess the care delivered by your hospital.
