Summary
This report summarises information provided by Australia to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development's (OECD's) Health at a glance 2015 report for a common set of indicators about the quality of health care delivered across OECD member countries.
International comparisons of this kind are complex due to the diverse nature of health-care systems, and differences in data sources and quality across countries, but such comparisons nevertheless provide a tool to inform priorities and policies for health services and to monitor progress in achieving health objectives.
The graphic on the next page represents Australia's performance compared with the OECD average for each indicator.
Indicators for which Australia performed favourably are listed toward the top of the graphic, and indicators where Australia performed unfavourably are listed toward the bottom. Australia performed about the same as the OECD average for indicators in the middle of the graphic.
The OECD's Health at a glance 2015 report provides information about the quality of the data provided by countries and note that, in particular, postoperative deep vein thrombosis, postoperative pulmonary embolism, and the obstetric trauma indicators may be affected by data quality limitations, and should be interpreted with caution.
Preliminary materials: Acknowledgments; Abbreviations; Symbol
1 Introduction
- OECD's Health Care Quality Indicators
- Australia's Health Care Quality Indicator submissions
2 Methods and data sources
- Data sources for the HCQIs
- Methodological issues
3 Primary care indicators-avoidable hospital separations
- Overall data comparability and methods
- Asthma hospital separation rate
- COPD hospital separation rate
- CHF hospital separation rate
- Hypertension hospital separation rate
- Diabetes hospital separation rate
- Diabetes lower extremity amputation rate
4 Acute care indicators
- Overall data comparability and methods
- AMI in-hospital mortality rate
- Haemorrhagic stroke in-hospital mortality rate
- Ischaemic stroke in-hospital mortality rate
5 Cancer care indicators
- Overall data comparability and methods
- Breast cancer 5-year relative survival rate
- Cervical cancer 5-year relative survival rate
- Colorectal cancer 5-year relative survival rate
6 Patient safety indicators
- Overall data comparability and methods
- Foreign body left in during procedure rate
- Post-operative DVT rate
- Post-operative PE rate
- Post-operative sepsis rate
- Post-operative wound dehiscence rate
- Obstetric trauma with and without instrument rate
7 Patient experience indicators
- Overall data comparability and methods
- Consultation skipped due to costs
- Medical tests skipped due to costs
- Prescribed medicines skipped due to costs
- Patient having enough time with doctor
Appendixes:
Appendix A: OECD HCQI specifications and application of methods
Appendix B: Data quality statement summaries
Appendix C: Detailed statistical tables
End matter: Glossary; References; List of tables; List of figures; List of boxes; Related publications