OBJECTIVES:  The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Hospital Compare website provides information about the quality of care at over 4,000 Medicare-certified hospitals nationwide. One of the goals for these data is to encourage hospitals to improve the quality of care they provide. The purpose of this research was to examine one data element of the Hospital Compare database (central line associated blood stream infections – CLABSI) to observe trends in rates over time. METHODS:  We accessed hospital-level Hospital Compare CLABSI rates for the years 2011 – 2013. We then ranked hospitals based on their 2011 CLABSI rates to identify hospitals with the highest rates of CLABSI and tracked those hospitals for the subsequent two years to observe trends in data. A subgroup analysis was performed to determine whether there were any specific hospital demographics or other quality of care measures that may contribute to these trends. RESULTS:  There were 1,937 hospitals with reported data on CLABSI rates in 2011. Of those, 46 hospitals had both a CLABSI rate of 2.0 per 1,000 discharges or greater in 2011 and data available in 2012 and 2013 to examine trends. Of the 46 hospitals examined, 43 hospitals had lower CLABSI rates in 2012 compared to 2011. Of those 43 hospitals with lower CLABSI rates in 2012, 19 hospitals then had increased CLABSI rates in 2013. Only one of those hospitals had higher CLABSI rates in 2013 than in 2011. CONCLUSIONS:  When examining a publicly available, self-reported database, the majority of hospitals with high rates of infection in the initial year then went on to have lower rates of infection in subsequent years. This would support the hypothesis that hospitals improve the quality of care they provide, though more research is needed to determine what other factors impact hospital infection rates over time.