The Illinois Department of Public Health has created a new website for hospital report cards and consumer guide to health care.

The website was created to provide patients with knowledge on the hospitals they choose and lets them compare the services of hospitals in the area.

Local hospitals including Carle Foundation Hospital and Provena Covenant Medical Center can be found and compared on the website.

HCAHPS (Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems) is a national, standardized survey of hospital patients. The surveys are taken at random from recently discharged patients and are done by a 0 to 10 ranking system, with 0 as the “worst hospital possible” while 10 is the best.

The data is collected by the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and is reported on Hospital Compare, a site developed by CMS and the Department of Health and Human Services.

According to the website comparison, when it came to percent of patients highly satisfied, Carle came in at 76 percent while Provena came in at 63 percent. Carle currently ties for the second highest percent ranking for the number of patients highly satisfied, along with the Central Dupage Hospital in Winfield, IL and Mason District Hospital in Havana, IL. Morris Hospital in Morris, IL currently holds the highest standing in this category.

Carle did outrank Provena in the satisfaction categories, though most of the other percentage rankings were close.

Other categories such as heart failure care put Provena ahead with 97.15 percent while Carle had 90.64 percent.

The Illinois Hospital Report Card site was created with the purpose of informing consumers of the quality of health care provided in Illinois so they may make better health care choices, according to the Illinois Department of Public Health.

With more than 50 available comparisons between hospitals, Carle and Provena each outranked each other in different categories.

This article was contributed to by Stephanie Tussing.