Formerly defined as "the degree of conformance to predefined standards"... the standards by which care was judged were implicit and existed only in the mind evaluators (Sultz & Young, 2014). Quality of care is a measurable aspect of health care, although difficult, it helps classify and enumerate low quality and high quality care. The measures are used to analyze the performance of health facilities in terms of quality and financing; the organization has a basis for understanding its care delivery and for improving that care (Dlugacz, 2006). The different departments and ranges of data needed to measure quality all differ in hospital settings, but the availability of medical records and other clinical information makes it easier to assess the quality of care. This article will analyze the components of health care quality, identify agencies that focus on quality, explore the HCAHPS survey and the roles of the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services in assessing quality of care in hospitals . Hospitals are major players in the healthcare sector. . There are different types of hospitals: general, specialized, teaching, for-profit or non-profit, rural and independent. All of these elements are fundamental to the health system. The basic elements for measuring the quality of hospital care are structure, process, outcomes and research. Healthcare delivery was quantified with the model, structure + process = outcome (quality). The structural component was the most widely used instrument for measuring health care quality until the 1960s. Hospitals rely on accreditation mechanisms to prove quality of care, which is an element of structure. "The assumption underlying structural quality reviews was that the better the facilities and qualifications of the professionals...... middle of paper ...... Medicine, 357:1350-1351. doi:10.1056/NEJMc072002Kass-Bartelmes BL, Rutherford MK (2002). AHRQ tools and resources for better health care. Rockville (MD): Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality Research in Action, Issue 10. AHRQ Pub No. 03-0008. Lind, A. (2013). Building Consensus: Developing an Approach to Measuring the Quality of Integrated Care Programs. Journal of the American Society on Aging, 37(2), 54-61. O'Kane, ME and Paul D. Cleary. (nd). Retrieved from http://www.esourceresearch.orgSultz, HA and Young, KM (2014). Health Care USA: Understanding its organization and delivery. Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning. Quality of care and the outcomes management movement. (nd). www.acep.org. Retrieved April 15, 2014 from https://www.acep.org/Clinical---Practice-Management/Quality-of-Care-and-the-Outcomes-Management-Movement/