Information for this chart was provided by the hospitals themselves and represents each hospital's most recently available data. For total admissions, some hospitals included newborns. The number of physicians reported is often an estimate and includes doctors with privileges as well as residents and fellows at teaching hospitals. Nurse-to-patient ratios varydepending on time of day and volume and acuity of patients. As a general rule, there are more patients per nurse at night than in daytime hours. In some hospitals, full-time intensivists may be either in the hospital or on call. Northern Virginia Community Hospital is undergoing change--converting to a surgical center--and did not provide information.

The most frequently performed inpatient procedure at hospitals is arteriography/angiocardiography, according to the 2003 National Hospital Discharge Survey. In all, 2 million were performed last year. Cardiac catheterization was second (1.3 million); repair of current obstetric laceration was third (1.2 million); cesarean section was fourth (1.1 million); and small-intestine endoscopy was fifth (1 million).

Some hospitals are offering luxury suites for patients, reminiscent of skyboxes at sports stadiums. Washington Hospital Center, Johns Hopkins, GW, and others have plush accommodations that cost $150 a day or more above the regular room charge. (Suburban Hospital onceoffered luxury rooms but has discontinued them.) The VIP rooms offer amenities you'd find at a four-starhotel, including elegant decor and gourmet meals. Concerns have been raised that VIP patients receive higher-quality medical care, but hospitals deny this happens and defend luxury suites as a way to increase revenues to offset the costs of treating indigentpatients.