title: Public reporting on quality, waiting times and patient experience in 11 high-income countries.
abstract: This article maps current approaches to public reporting on waiting times, patient experience and aggregate measures of quality and safety in 11 high-income countries (Australia, Canada, England, France, Germany, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and the United States). Using a questionnaire-based survey of key national informants, we found that the data most commonly made available to the public are on waiting times for hospital treatment, being reported for major hospitals in seven countries. Information on patient experience at hospital level is also made available in many countries, but it is not generally available in respect of primary care services. Only one of the 11 countries (England) publishes composite measures of overall quality and safety of care that allow the ranking of providers of hospital care. Similarly, the publication of information on outcomes of individual physicians remains rare. We conclude that public reporting of aggregate measures of quality and safety, as well as of outcomes of individual physicians, remain relatively uncommon. This is likely to be due to both unresolved methodological and ethical problems and concerns that public reporting may lead to unintended consequences.
authors.affiliation: European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, 15-17 Tavistock Place, London WC1H9SH, United Kingdom. Electronic address: Bernd.Rechel@lshtm.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Bernd
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Rechel
authors.affiliation: European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, 15-17 Tavistock Place, London WC1H9SH, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: McKee
authors.affiliation: University of Technology Sydney, Australia. Electronic address: Marion.Haas@chere.uts.edu.au.
authors.forename: Marion
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Haas
authors.affiliation: Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation, University of Toronto, Canada. Electronic address: greg.marchildon@utoronto.ca.
authors.forename: Gregory P
authors.initials: GP
authors.lastname: Marchildon
authors.affiliation: Caisse nationale de l'assurance maladie des travailleurs salaries (CNAMTS), France. Electronic address: Frederic.Bousquet@cnamts.fr.
authors.forename: Frederic
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Bousquet
authors.affiliation: Berlin University of Technology, Germany. Electronic address: miriam.bluemel@tu-berlin.de.
authors.forename: Miriam
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Blümel
authors.affiliation: Berlin University of Technology, Germany. Electronic address: a.geissler@tu-berlin.de.
authors.forename: Alexander
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Geissler
authors.affiliation: Berlin University of Technology, Germany. Electronic address: ewout.vanginneken@tu-berlin.de.
authors.forename: Ewout
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: van Ginneken
authors.affiliation: School of Population Health, University of Auckland, New Zealand. Electronic address: toni.ashton@auckland.ac.nz.
authors.forename: Toni
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ashton
authors.affiliation: Norwegian Knowledge Centre for the Health Services (NOKC), Norway. Electronic address: Ingrid.Sperre.Saunes@kunnskapssenteret.no.
authors.forename: Ingrid Sperre
authors.initials: IS
authors.lastname: Saunes
authors.affiliation: Lund University School of Economics and Management, Sweden. Electronic address: anders.anell@fek.lu.se.
authors.forename: Anders
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Anell
authors.affiliation: Berlin University of Technology, Germany. Electronic address: wilm.quentin@tu-berlin.de.
authors.forename: Wilm
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Quentin
authors.affiliation: Emory University, Atlanta, United States. Electronic address: rsaltma@sph.emory.edu.
authors.forename: Richard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Saltman
authors.affiliation: Emory University, Atlanta, United States. Electronic address: sculler@sph.emory.edu.
authors.forename: Steven
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Culler
authors.affiliation: Virginia Commonwealth University, United States. Electronic address: andrew.barnes@vcuhealth.org.
authors.forename: Andrew
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Barnes
authors.affiliation: European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies, Brussels, Belgium. Electronic address: wpa@obs.euro.who.int.
authors.forename: Willy
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Palm
authors.affiliation: European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies, London School of Economics and Political Science, London, United Kingdom. Electronic address: E.Nolte@lse.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Ellen
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Nolte
mesh_terms: D019985:Benchmarking / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards; D019049:Developed Countries; D014943:Global Health; D006297:Health Services Accessibility; D006761:Hospitals / Q000592:standards; D006801:Humans; D017060:Patient Satisfaction; D011320:Primary Health Care; D011787:Quality of Health Care / Q000458:organization & administration*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014850:Waiting Lists
keywords: Benchmarking; Patient satisfaction; Quality of health care