The willingness, capability and feasibility of hospitals to implement report cards under the global budget system

Purpose. This study aims to explore the willingness, capability, and feasibility of hospitals to implement report cards under the global budget system. Methods. The study subjects comprised the superintendents of 453 acute hospitals in Taiwan. A structured questionnaire was used to collect data. A total of 151 questionnaires were returned, yielding a 33.3% response rate. Results. Only 31.8% of the 151 hospitals sampled were willing to implement hospital report cards. Hospitals were only willing to publish data on positive indicators of the report card. Hospitals' willingness to use hospital report cards was significantly related to their accreditation level. Conclusions. Hospital report cards are feasible. The Department of Health could use them to rank hospitals according to accreditation level, and disseminate the data through the Internet.