title: Acute care hospitals' accountability to provincial funders.
abstract: Ontario's acute care hospitals are subject to a number of tools, including legislation and performance measurement for fiscal accountability and accountability for quality. Examination of accountability documents used in Ontario at the government, regional and acute care hospital levels reveals three trends: (a) the number of performance measures being used in the acute care hospital sector has increased significantly; (b) the focus of the health system has expanded from accountability for funding and service volumes to include accountability for quality and patient safety; and (c) the accountability requirements are misaligned at the different levels. These trends may affect the success of the accountability approach currently being used.
authors.affiliation: Postdoctoral Fellow, Health System Performance Research Network, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON.
authors.forename: Seija K
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Kromm
authors.affiliation: Professor, Institute of Health Policy, Management & Evaluation, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Ross Baker
authors.affiliation: Associate Professor, Institute of Health Policy Management & Evaluation, University of Toronto, Research Scientist, Toronto Rehabilitation Institute, Adjunct Scientist, Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences, Toronto, ON.
authors.forename: Walter P
authors.initials: WP
authors.lastname: Wodchis
authors.affiliation: Professor, Institute of Health Policy, Management & Evaluation, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON.
authors.forename: Raisa B
authors.initials: RB
authors.lastname: Deber
mesh_terms: D003422:Critical Care / Q000191:economics / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D005380:Financing, Government; D006291:Health Policy / Q000191:economics / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D006739:Hospital Administration / Q000191:economics / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence* / Q000379:methods; D016304:Hospitals, Private / Q000191:economics / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D006801:Humans; D009864:Ontario; D061214:Patient Safety / Q000191:economics / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D011785:Quality Assurance, Health Care / Q000191:economics / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence* / Q000379:methods; D019984:Quality Indicators, Health Care; D012941:Social Responsibility