The quality of care delivered at US hospitals continues to improve, according to data gathered by the Joint Commission from nearly 1,500 institutions. Hospitals improved their provision of evidence-based care for patients with heart attacks, congestive heart failure, and pneumonia, and also improved at prevention of health care–associated infections in surgical patients. As in previous reports, adherence to the National Patient Safety Goals was more mixed. Although performance improved in some areas (including medication reconciliation and eliminating "do not use" abbreviations), many hospitals do not systematically perform time outs prior to procedures, or have reliable mechanisms for communicating critical test results.