A report from the Joint Commission showed that hospital performance across the U.S. improved in 2010. Evaluation of more than 12 million treatment actions found that hospitals complied with standards 97% of the time, up significantly from 2002's 82%. None of the 17 medical centers cited by U.S. News & World Report in its "Best Hospitals Honor Roll" this year were included in the Joint Commission's list of 405 hospitals that obtained at least a 95% composite score for adhering to treatment protocols. Hospital officials said that several well-known medical centers did not fall short of the 95% requirement by much and small numbers of patients might have influenced the results.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/15/us...inds.html?_r=1