title: Monitoring the performance of hip fracture treatment in Finland.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  This article in the supplement on the PERFormance, Effectiveness, and Costs of Treatment episodes (PERFECT)-project aims to measure the performance and quality of hip fracture treatment by analysing annual trends and regional differences in developed performance indicators.
  
  
  METHODS
  The PERFECT Hip Fracture Database contains all hip fracture patients identified from the Hospital Discharge Register in Finland since 1999. Follow-up data from several administrative registers were also linked to the database. Several risk-adjusted performance indicators were developed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In 2007 (compared with 1999), 4.1 percentage points fewer patients had died and 7.5 percentage points more patients were at home four months after fracture. The mean length of treatment had shortened from about 50 to about 45 days, and the mean costs of treatment per patient during the year following hip fracture had increased from about €18,000 to almost €20,000. There was extensive variation between the hospitals in the proportion of patients with an operative delay longer than two days and clear differences between hospital districts in several performance indicators.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Outcomes of hip fracture treatment in Finland have been improved in recent years, but regional variation exists. Register-based data are useful for performance assessment of hip fracture treatment.
authors.affiliation: National Institute for Health and Welfare (THL), Helsinki, Finland. reijo.sund@thl.fi
authors.forename: Reijo
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Sund
authors.forename: Merja
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Juntunen
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Lüthje
authors.forename: Tiina
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Huusko
authors.forename: Unto
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Häkkinen
mesh_terms: D005260:Female; D005387:Finland / Q000453:epidemiology; D006620:Hip Fractures / Q000191:economics / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000628:therapy*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010043:Outcome and Process Assessment, Health Care / Q000191:economics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012042:Registries / Q000706:statistics & numerical data