Introduction
Australia is generally considered to have a high-quality health care system, delivering good health outcomes for the population (Schneider et al. 2021). Against a range of health indicators, Australia compares favourably with other developed countries (AIHW 2022). Nevertheless, the safety and quality of health care in Australia is of ongoing interest to health care planners, providers and consumers, and efforts continue to maintain and improve the performance of health care services.
To help countries achieve high-performing health systems the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) facilitates inter-country comparisons of health systems through a number of regularly conducted health data collections among member and partner countries. Data submitted to these collections are published in OECD.Stat and selected indicators are also published by the OECD in their Health at a glance publication series (most recently, Health at a glance 2023.)
This report summarises the information provided for Australia to the OECD's Health Care Quality and Outcomes (HCQO) 2022–23 data collection. Participation in this biennial data collection is one way that Australia can contribute to the assessment of the quality and safety of our healthcare system. This report compares the latest available data for Australia with data reported:
- for similar years by the OECD for other participating countries, and
- in previous years for Australia.
Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) 2022. International health data comparisons. Canberra: AIHW.
OECD 2023. Health at a glance 2023: OECD indicators. Paris: OECD.
Schneider et al. 2021. Mirror, mirror 2021 – reflecting poorly: health care in the U.S. compared to other high-income countries. New York: The Commonwealth Fund.