National Research Corporation
Names Top Hospitals

Lincoln, Neb. – National Research Corporation (NRC) is pleased to publicly recognize the nation’s top hospitals as 2005/06 Consumer Choice Award winners. The award identifies hospitals which healthcare consumers have chosen as having the highest quality and image in 180 markets throughout the U.S. This is the tenth year NRC has awarded hospitals whose consumers have recognized them for providing quality healthcare services.

NRC Chief Executive Officer Michael D. Hays said winners are determined by consumer perceptions on multiple quality and image ratings collected in the company’s annual NRC Healthcare Market Guide® study. Of the 3,000 hospitals named by consumers in the study, the winning facilities rank highest in their Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSA’s), as defined by the U.S. Census Bureau.

The 2005/06 NRC Healthcare Market Guide study surveyed over 200,000 households representing 400,000 consumers in the contiguous 48 states and the District of Columbia. “Consumers play an increasing role in selecting their healthcare facilities and services,” Hays said. “As more healthcare quality information is made publicly available, we expect this trend to increase. These organizations are selected for the Consumer Choice Awards by the community residents they serve. We are pleased to honor these facilities for their leadership in the delivery of quality healthcare.”

The 2005/06 Healthcare Market Guide is the nation’s largest and most comprehensive study of its kind. No other study used to measure hospital performance and preferences contains more consumer responses than NRC’s study. The study has a margin of error of + or – 0.2 percent at a national level. Co-winners are named when scores fall within the statistical margin of error for a given market. National Research Corporation (NASDAQ: NRCI) is an industry leader, with more than two decades of experience in healthcare performance measurement and improvement.

NCR Consumer Choice Award Hospitals