(Last in a series. Part one can be read here, and part two can be read here.)

When Trinity Regional Health System's west campus in Rock Island was named a "Top 100" hospital earlier this year, that distinction quickly became a staple of the hospital's marketing.

But as a health-care consumer, the honor should lead to questions: Who makes the decision? What are the criteria? Does any money change hands to get the award?

(Part two of a series. Part one can be read here , and part three can be read here .)

Two parallel movements are making hospitals more accountable in terms of their processes and outcomes: an orientation toward consumers, and an increasing emphasis on quality by the organizations that pay for health care - particularly the federal government.

"We're in kind of a new age," said Dr. Tom Evans, president and CEO of the Iowa Healthcare Collaborative, an organization formed by the Iowa Hospital Association and the Iowa Medical Society. "Transparency wasn't really even germane until recently. We couldn't even define what good health care was until 15 years ago."

Like pirates lurking on the high seas looking for victims, politicians probably wear their best buccaneer smirks whenever a new program to help children becomes accepted into law. And much like a wealthy, unsuspecting merchant ship, children's programs are in constant danger of being pillaged.