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What is the Health Care Quality Indicators project?

The OECD Health Care Quality Indicators project, initiated in 2002, aims to measure and compare the quality of health service provision in the different countries. An Expert Group has developed a set of quality indicators at the health systems level, which allows to assess the impact of particular factors on the quality of health services.

Our approach is to complement and coordinate efforts of national and other international bodies. These efforts will offer policy makers and other stakeholders a toolkit to stimulate cross-national learning.

Areas of work

The OECD Health Care Quality Framework
Health Promotion, Prevention and Primary Care
Mental Health Care
Cancer Care
OECD Work in Patient Safety
Responsiveness and Patient Experiences
Strengthening Health Information Infrastructure

Value and Quality of Care

Quality of care is one of the key dimensions of value. Through ongoing national and international efforts, such as the System of Health Accounts, information on health care spending is expanding, yet information on the value that health services create is still limited.

At the end of 2010, a public Forum on the Quality of Care was held to raise awareness to the importance of measuring quality for the good of patients and health budgets alike. A key publication, ‘Improving Value in health Care’ was released for this event. This year, a series of country reviews are being initiated in this area.

Data

Health at a Glance 2011 presents the existing set of quality of care indicators considered suitable for international comparison. Data, charts and related information are provided for OECD and non-OECD countries which provided the data for each of the following indicators:

Care for Chronic Conditions
Avoidable admissions: respiratory diseases
Asthma hospital admission rates
COPD hospital admission rates
Avoidable admissions: uncontrolled diabetes
Uncontrolled diabetes hospital admission rates

Care for Acute Exacerbation of Chronic Conditions
In-hospital mortality following acute myocardial infarction
In-hospital case-fatality rates within 30 days after admission for AMI
In-hospital mortality following stroke
In-hospital case-fatality rates within 30 days after admission for ischemic stroke
In-hospital case-fatality rates within 30 days after admission for hemorrhagic stroke

Patient Safety
Obstetric trauma
Obstetric trauma, vaginal delivery with instrument
Obstetric trauma, vaginal delivery without instrument
Procedural or postoperative complications
Foreign body left in during procedure
Accidental puncture or laceration
Postoperative pulmonary embolism or deep vein thrombosis
Postoperative sepsis

Care for Mental Disorders
Unplanned hospital re-admissions for mental disorders
Schizophrenia re-admissions to the same hospital
Bipolar disorder re-admissions to the same hospital

Cancer Care
Screening survival and mortality for cervical cancer
Cervical cancer screening, percentage of women aged 20-69 screened
Cervical cancer five-year relative survival rate
Cervical cancer mortality, females
Screening, survival and mortality for breast cancer
Mammography screening, percentage of women aged 50-69 screened
Breast cancer five-year relative survival rate
Breast cancer mortality, females
Survival and mortality for colorectal cancer
Colorectal cancer, five-year relative survival rate
Colorectal cancer mortality

Data and information on quality indicators for communicable diseases (screening and immunisation), cancer (screening and mortality) along with various other quality indicators related to lifestyle and prevention can be found through OECD Health Data and Health at a Glance.

Related Work and Documents

Information on related initiatives and collaborations as well as a full list of HCQI related publications are available by clicking here.

Project Contacts

Niek Klazinga
niek.klazinga@oecd.org
Tel.: +33 1 45 24 76 11
Fax: +33 1 45 24 90 98

Generic contact: hcqi.contact@oecd.org

Permanent URL: http://www.oecd.org/health/hcqi

Related Documents

New OECD Series on Health Care Quality Reviews

Forum on the Quality of Care

European Diabetes Leadership Forum (EDLF), Copenhagen, 25-26 April 2012