Quality assessment

The availability of robust, coherent, defensible and credible data on healthcare system performance is an essential component of any effort to improve quality. Decision makers need a shared understanding of the magnitude and nature of problems facing healthcare systems, along with a basis for communication and co-operation among the many stakeholders responsible for the delivery of health services and enhancing health outcomes. In recent years, the amount of available data and information relevant to the quality of healthcare in Canada has grown – produced by national, provincial, territorial, academic, professional and patient organizations. This chartbook seeks to draw these disparate pieces of data together to build a broad and coherent picture of the quality of healthcare in Canada. The approach adopted for this Canadian chartbook builds upon that developed by the authors for similar chartbooks in Australia, the United States, and the United Kingdom.