Consumers Union, the not-for-profit group that publishes Consumer Reports magazine, plans to offer a new online service that will rate hospitals, the Wall Street Journal reports.

The service, which will evaluate an estimated 3,000 hospitals nationwide, will allow users to view graphs that rate the intensity of care provided by the facilities, based on a scale of zero for the most conservative treatment to 100 for the most aggressive treatment. The service will rate hospitals on the intensity of care -- which involves time spent in the hospital and the number of physician visits -- for nine serious medical conditions, including cancer and heart failure, treated during the last two years of life. In addition, the service will provide information on the average out-of-pocket cost for physician visits during the last two years of life for the nine conditions.

The service is based on research conducted as part of the Dartmouth Atlas Project, an initiative developed by Dartmouth College researchers that uses data collected from Medicare. Researchers involved with the project have found that higher intensity of care does not lead to improved patient outcomes in all cases.

According to the Journal, the "new hospital ratings, which are expected to be supplemented with further information later, are the first step in a broader effort to expand" the services offered by Consumers Union in the area of health care. Consumers Union currently rates health plans, medications and some medical treatments and might rate physician groups and elder care in the future (Mathews, Wall Street Journal, 5/29).