BACKGROUND: One of the most widely accepted didactic conferences among residency training programs is morning report. This study examines several factors that may influence the content of case presentations at morning report. METHODS: This prospective survey is of cases presented over a 1-year period at two morning reports--a university hospital and its affiliated Veterans Affairs (VA) hospital. RESULTS: Of 286 morning reports, 227 questionnaires (79%) were completed. The most common subspecialty categories represented in the cases were cardiology (20.3% of cases), infectious disease (13.2%), gastroenterology (11.5%), pulmonary (11.0%), hematology (10.1%), and general medicine (6.2%). The case mix was not significantly different by type of hospital nor by chief resident. The discussion was inpatient oriented in 88.6% of cases. CONCLUSION: Morning report case mix was similar at a university and its affiliated VA hospital and was predominantly inpatient oriented.