The purpose of the Measured Quality Hospital Reports is to identify opportunities for quality improvement in patient care and hospital management. Each report assesses hospital performance across four quadrants, clinical utilisation and outcomes, efficiency, system integration and change and patient satisfaction (patient satisfaction results are not available in 2004 or 2005 but will be available in the 2006 reports). Each quadrant represents one important aspect of hospital performance. The Hospital reports show where progress is being made in patient care and hospital services and pinpoints areas for improvement.
To make comparisons between hospitals as fair as possible, statistical techniques were used to adjust for factors that may be outside the hospital’s control, such as the types of patients treated and the size of the hospital. These adjustments help, but are not perfect. For example, hospitals located in remote regions of