Prospects for comparing European hospitals in terms of quality and safety: lessons from a comparative study in five countries
Author(s)
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Purpose. Being able to compare hospitals in terms of quality and safety between countries is important for a number of
reasons. For example, the 2011 European Union directive on patients’ rights to cross-border health care places a requirement
on all member states to provide patients with comparable information on health-care quality, so that they can make an
informed choice. Here, we report on the feasibility of using common process and outcome indicators to compare hospitals
for quality and safety in five countries (England, Portugal, The Netherlands, Sweden and Norway).
Main Challenges Identified. The cross-country comparison identified the following seven challenges with respect to comparing
the quality of hospitals across Europe: different indicators are collected in each country; different definitions of the same
indicators are used; different mandatory versus voluntary data collection requirements are in place; different types of organizations
oversee data collection; different levels of aggregation of data exist (country, region and hospital); different levels of
public access to data exist; and finally, hospital accreditation and licensing systems differ in each country.
Conclusion. Our findings indicate that if patients and policymakers are to compare the quality and safety of hospitals across
Europe, then further work is urgently needed to agree the way forward. Until then, patients will not be able to make
informed choices about where they receive their health care in different countries, and some governments will remain in the
dark about the quality and safety of care available to their citizens as compared to that available in neighbouring countries.
reasons. For example, the 2011 European Union directive on patients’ rights to cross-border health care places a requirement
on all member states to provide patients with comparable information on health-care quality, so that they can make an
informed choice. Here, we report on the feasibility of using common process and outcome indicators to compare hospitals
for quality and safety in five countries (England, Portugal, The Netherlands, Sweden and Norway).
Main Challenges Identified. The cross-country comparison identified the following seven challenges with respect to comparing
the quality of hospitals across Europe: different indicators are collected in each country; different definitions of the same
indicators are used; different mandatory versus voluntary data collection requirements are in place; different types of organizations
oversee data collection; different levels of aggregation of data exist (country, region and hospital); different levels of
public access to data exist; and finally, hospital accreditation and licensing systems differ in each country.
Conclusion. Our findings indicate that if patients and policymakers are to compare the quality and safety of hospitals across
Europe, then further work is urgently needed to agree the way forward. Until then, patients will not be able to make
informed choices about where they receive their health care in different countries, and some governments will remain in the
dark about the quality and safety of care available to their citizens as compared to that available in neighbouring countries.
Date Issued
2013-02-01
Date Acceptance
2012-12-02
Citation
International Journal for Quality in Health Care, 2013, 25 (1), pp.1-7
ISSN
1464-3677
Publisher
Oxford University Press (OUP)
Start Page
1
End Page
7
Journal / Book Title
International Journal for Quality in Health Care
Volume
25
Issue
1
Copyright Statement
© The Author 2013. Published by Oxford University Press.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/),
which permits non-commercial reuse, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/),
which permits non-commercial reuse, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
License URL
Sponsor
Commission of the European Communities
Grant Number
241724
Subjects
Science & Technology
Life Sciences & Biomedicine
Health Care Sciences & Services
Health Policy & Services
HEALTH CARE SCIENCES & SERVICES
HEALTH POLICY & SERVICES
measurement of quality
external quality assessment
health-care system
Publication Status
Published