"Measuring Up" - Improving health system performance in OECD countries

The proceedings from the OECD/Canada conference, "Measuring Up: Improving health system performance in OECD countries", held in November 2001 in Ottawa, looks at progress in pursuing a performance measurement and improvement "cycle".

The conference volume reviews recent developments in five contrasting countries - Canada, the Netherlands, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States. It provides selected international comparisons on key aspects of performance, such as quality of hospital care and long-term care, equity of access and efficiency. It also outlines the range of levers, both economic and non-economic, that policy makers and healthcare managers can use to secure performance improvements.

The final chapter of the conference proceedings presents the views of health ministers from Canada, France, Mexico, the United Kingdom and the United States on health system performance assessment.

Donald Johnston, Secretary-General of the OECD, notes that the report from the Ottawa conference demonstrates "strong political commitments to international co-operation in developing performance measurement frameworks that support on-going health system improvement."

The report is on sale through the OECD on-line bookshop