Friday, March 28th marked the first release of the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) data. Years in the making, the collection and release of the data makes comparison information available to healthcare consumers across the nation. The 27-question survey asks consumers about their experiences with hospitals and health professionals. The results of the collected surveys are submitted and have now been published at the government's HospitalCompare website.

US News & World Report details the considerations for hospitals:

Hospitals don't have to participate, but the rollout suggests that most will. Even though there was no penalty for skipping the initial round, and hospitals that did participate could hide the data from public view if they wanted, about two thirds of all hospitals submitted data and only about 100 opted to suppress it. Hiding the information will no longer be permitted for future submissions. Starting this July, moreover, hospitals that opt out will find their Medicare reimbursements for inpatient care cut by 2 percent. But CMS expects the number of hospitals that cooperate to grow to about 3,900 later this year.