The OECD Health Care Quality Indicators Project: history and background

Objective. To describe the background, history, and approach of the OECD Health Care Quality Indicators (HCQI) Project, an initiative to implement quality measures for international benchmarking of medical care at the health system level. Method. The participating countries and international organiz...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:International journal for quality in health care 2006-09, Vol.18 (suppl-1), p.1-4
Main Authors: Mattke, Soeren, Epstein, Arnold M., Leatherman, Sheila
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Benchmarking
Cardiology - standards
Consensus
Consensus Development Conferences as Topic
Developed Countries
Diabetes Mellitus
Health planning
Health Priorities - standards
Humans
International Agencies
International aspects
international comparison
International Cooperation
Medical service
Mental Health Services - standards
Organization for economic cooperation and development
Pilot Projects
Preventive Health Services - standards
Primary Health Care - standards
Quality Assurance, Health Care
quality indicators
Quality Indicators, Health Care - classification
quality of care
Safety Management - standards
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Summary:Objective. To describe the background, history, and approach of the OECD Health Care Quality Indicators (HCQI) Project, an initiative to implement quality measures for international benchmarking of medical care at the health system level. Method. The participating countries and international organizations selected five priority areas (cardiac care, diabetes, mental health, patient safety, and primary care/prevention) and developed a conceptual framework to guide the project. International expert panels were formed to identify clinically important, scientifically sound, and feasible measures based on a structured consensus process. Results. The consensus process was successfully completed in all five priority areas leading to a recommendation of 86 indicators. Nine indicators were selected for diabetes, 12 for mental health, 17 for cardiac care, 21 for patient safety, and 27 for primary care and prevention. Conclusions. The initial experience of the HCQI Project demonstrates that international consensus can be achieved in how to measure the quality of care in priority areas, suggesting substantial demand for and interest in comparative information at the health system level. However, much additional work remains necessary before the project can supply policymakers and researchers with ongoing, comprehensive, and reliable data on the quality of care in industrialized countries.
ISSN:1353-4505
1464-3677
DOI:10.1093/intqhc/mzl019