Michael Millenson of The Health Care Blog writes that, for a report card comparing Ontario hospitals, most hospitals simply refused to participate.

Last year, the first for the report, just 43 of 136 acute-care hospitals agreed to participate. This year, though, the number of participants plunged 60 percent, to just 17 hospitals, according to a story in Healthcare IT News.

As Nadeem Esmail, director of health system performance studies at the institute and co-author of the report, pointed out, “By refusing to be identified, Ontario hospital administrators are hiding vital information from Ontario taxpayers and patients about the quality of tax-funded healthcare provided in their community.”

Millenson asks, “if it’s taxpayer money, why doesn’t your government require hospitals to report?”