Advances in diagnosis and treatment have led to dramatic improvements in the prognosis of patients with acute, life-threatening conditions, such as injuries and acute cardiovascular events. The ability to transport patients rapidly to the hospital with advanced life support en route, improved surgical and medical interventions and modern intensive care medicine have greatly reduced the risk of death and disability.

The acute hospital care remains central to the performance of the health care system. Despite substantial gains in the sector, health care providers, researchers and policy makers continue to seek further improvements in the delivery of acute care. As part of these efforts, many countries have developed indicators to measure and monitor acute care performance. Such national efforts have been translated to the international stage through the use of a structured review process whereby expert panels have evaluated and recommended indicators related to cardiac care and acute care.

The following acute care indicators, developed through the HCQI project, are currently considered suitable for international comparison:

• the rates of death within 30 days following hospital admissions for acute myocardial infarction (AMI)
• the rates of death within 30 days following hospital admissions for ischemic stroke
• the rates of death within 30 days following hospital admissions for hemorrhagic stroke
• the rate of patients who received their surgery within 48 hours following an admission for hip fracture

For the AMI and stroke indicators, two types of case-fatality indicators are collected. The first reports on the percentage of deaths that occur within 30 days following admission, where the death occurred in the same hospital as the initial admission. The second indicator reports on the percentage of deaths that occur within 30 days following admission, where the death may have occurred in any hospital or out of hospital. While the second indicator is preferred, not all countries have the capacity to report these data.

DATA

The HCQI indicators are published within Health at a Glance 2017: Chapter 6 on Quality and Outcomes of Care.

Additional indicators are also available in the OECD Health Statistics database in the Health Care Quality Indicators dataset in OECD.Stat in the query on Acute care.

PUBLICATIONS 

• Selecting Indicators for the Quality of Cardiac Care at the Health Systems Level in OECD Countries (Health Technical Paper No. 14)
• Health Care Quality Indicators Project (Health Working Paper No. 22)
• Health Care Quality Indicators Project 2006 Data Collection Update Report (Health Working Paper No. 29)
  
  

CONTACT

Ian Brownwood: ian.brownwood@oecd.org