Health Council of Canada. (2012). Measuring and reporting on health system performance in Canada: Opportunities for improvement. Retrieved from http://healthcouncilcanada.ca/rpt_det.php?id=364

“In this paper, we discuss the current capacity for governments and their health information and quality agencies to report on the performance of their health systems. We also provide international and Canadian examples of governments that are using improved performance reporting mechanisms to support their health care priorities and goals. To do this, they rely on strategic health plans to guide service implementation, complemented by reporting frameworks that use health indicators to monitor performance over a set period of time, and report their achievements regularly to the public. The strategic plans are revised regularly in light of changing political, economic, and social circumstances within each jurisdiction. In some cases, governments have begun using performance-based funding programs as a way to drive performance improvement and achievement of their health care objectives.

As a country, how can we improve the way we set goals and measure changes to health care and the health of Canadians? How do we make sure that activities are focused on achieving positive results? How do we improve accountability for achieving these results, especially in light of the significant public resources employed in the delivery of health care in Canada? These questions predate the existing health accords and remain to be answered.

This paper is intended to raise the profile of performance reporting in Canada’s health care system and to increase our collective understanding of the opportunities to improve it in the interest of better accountability.”