Advanced healthcare systems are moving toward greater efficiency, transparency and accountability, and this trend will continue, particularly in fiscally constrained environments. There is no single measure that will improve service delivery and patient outcomes, ensure financial sustainability, and increase accountability and transparency in a health system. Performance reporting in healthcare will work if properly developed and implemented.
This issues brief will assess efficiency, quality, and safety of the Australian performance reporting standards by comparing it with the United States, Canada, and United Kingdom standards. The paper also suggests that Australian policymakers should embrace the positive benefits of setting and monitoring targets as well as reporting on their results, which later can assist in the enhancement of efficiency, transparency, accountability, service delivery and patient outcomes.
