Latest Hospital Quality Measures Released

The latest risk-adjusted quality measures for New Zealand hospitals were released today by Health Minister Bill English.

The indicators, which measure mortality rates and re-admission rates, are contained in a Ministry of Health report Risk-Adjusted Measurements for Quality of Care in Hospitals 1996/97.

"One of the key findings from the report is that moves to more efficient services through increasing day surgery and shorter stays in hospital have not been at the cost of a drop in quality.

"This is the third report on quality of care and similar findings have been identified in all three years.

"The report looks at hospitals managed by the 23 Crown Health Enterprises. It shows that two CHEs, Western Bay Health and Canterbury Health, have lower risk-adjusted mortality rates than the national average, and that two, Nelson-Marlborough Health and Hutt Valley Health, have mortality rates above the national average.

"Readmission rates show Waikato Health and Western Bay Health have lower readmission rates than the national average, but that Tairawhiti Healthcare, Healthlink South, HealthCare Otago and Wairarapa Health have higher rates than the national average.

"It is important to remember that these figures are relative measures of quality of care in our hospitals based on the national average. They do not imply a 'pass' or 'fail' on quality of care, but indicate where hospitals can work to make improvements.

"These figures are derived through a fairly complex statistical analysis and there are a few factors that have been identified that currently cannot be directly accounted for in the risk-adjustment process.

"Different hospital practices, particularly miscoding, coding changes or incomplete records can also affect the result. I have been advised that consultation with Hutt Valley Health since the report's completion has revealed that miscoding may explain the CHE's higher risk adjusted mortality rate," said Mr English.