title: Provider-specific report cards: a tool for health sector accountability in developing countries.
abstract: In most health care systems in most countries, providers are not adequately held accountable - by governments, purchasers, provider professional associations or civil society - for the quality of care. One approach to improve provider accountability that is being debated and implemented in a subset of developed countries and a smaller group of developing countries is provider-specific comparative performance reporting. This review discusses universal design options for report cards, summarizes the evidence base, presents developing country examples, reviews challenges and outlines implementation steps. The ultimate aim is to provoke thoughtful debate about if and how comparative performance reporting fits within a developing country's broader framework of strategies to promote quality of care.
authors.affiliation: Center for Delivery, Organization and Markets, US Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, 540 Gaither Road, Rockville, MD 20850, USA. pmcnamar@ahrq.gov
authors.forename: Peggy
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: McNamara
mesh_terms: D003695:Delivery of Health Care; D019049:Developed Countries; D007256:Information Systems; D011787:Quality of Health Care; D012941:Social Responsibility