Caring for Quality in Health
Lessons Learnt from 15 Reviews of Health Care Quality
Over the past four years, the OECD has conducted a series of in-depth reviews of the
policies and institutions that underpin the measurement and improvement of health
care quality in 15 different health systems. This synthesis report draws on key lessons
from the OECD Health Care Quality Review series. The objective is to summarise the
main challenges and good practices to support improvements in health care quality,
and to help ensure that the substantial resources devoted to health are being used
effectively in supporting people to live healthier lives. The overarching conclusion
emerging across the Health Care Quality Review series concerns transparency. Governments
should encourage, and where appropriate require, health systems and health care providers
to be open about the effectiveness, safety and patient-centredness of care they provide.
More measures of patient outcomes are needed (especially those reported by patients
themselves), and these should underpin standards, guidelines, incentives and innovations
in service delivery. Greater transparency can lead to optimisation of both quality
and efficiency – twin objectives which reinforce, rather than subvert, each other.
In practical terms, greater transparency and better performance can be supported by
changes in where and how care is delivered; changes in the roles of patients and professionals;
and employing tools such as data and incentives more effectively. Key actions in these
three areas are set out in the twelve lessons presented in this synthesis report.
Published on February 01, 2017
In series:OECD Reviews of Health Care Qualityview more titles