When Thomson Reuters published its list of Top 100 CV Hospitals last month, it got me thinking about how richly our National Cardiovascular Data Registry (NCDR) contributes to quality care. Consider the following statistics:

• 100% of hospitals on the U.S. News & World Report Best Hospitals Honor Roll 2008 participate in the NCDR
• 100% of hospitals on the 100 Top Hospitals(R) Performance Improvement Leaders 2007 - Large Community Hospitals participate in the NCDR
• 98% of hospitals on the U.S. News & World Report 50 Best Hospitals Heart & Heart Surgery 2008 participate in the NCDR
• 97.5% of hospitals on the 100 Top Hospitals 2007 Cardiovascular Benchmarks for Success - Teaching Hospitals without Cardiovascular Residencies participate in the NCDR
• 96.7% of hospitals on the 100 Top Hospitals 2007 Cardiovascular Benchmarks for Success - Teaching Hospitals with Cardiovascular Residencies participate in the NCDR
• 96% of hospitals on HealthGrades® America's 50 Best Hospitals – 2008 participate in the NCDR
• 95% of hospitals on the 100 Top Hospitals® 2007 National Benchmarks for Success - Large Community Hospitals participate in the NCDR
• 93.3% of hospitals on the 100 Top Hospitals® 2007 National Benchmarks for Success - Major Teaching Hospitals participate in the NCDR
• 93.3% of hospitals on the 100 Top Hospitals® Performance Improvement Leaders 2007 - Major Teaching Hospitals participate in the NCDR
• 93.3% of hospitals on the 100 Top Hospitals 2007 Cardiovascular Benchmarks for Success - Community Hospitals participate in the NCDR

Wow. Now we just have to get the word out to the hospitals not on the lists about how to get there: Participate in the NCDR.