Skip Navigation



Health Policy and Planning Advance Access published online on February 18, 2009
Health Policy and Planning, doi:10.1093/heapol/czp003
This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
24/3/167    most recent
czp003v1
Right arrow E-letters: Submit a response
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me when E-letters are posted
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Disclaimer
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Solon, O.
Right arrow Articles by Peabody, J. W
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Solon, O.
Right arrow Articles by Peabody, J. W
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

Published by Oxford University Press in association with The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine © The Author 2009; all rights reserved.

A novel method for measuring health care system performance: experience from QIDS in the Philippines

Orville Solon1, Kimberly Woo2, Stella A Quimbo1, Riti Shimkhada2, Jhiedon Florentino1 and John W Peabody2,*

1University of the Philippines, School of Economics, Diliman, Philippines.
2Institute for Global Health, University of California San Francisco, USA.

*Corresponding author. John W Peabody, MD, PhD, DTM&H, Institute for Global Health, University of California, San Francisco, 50 Beale Street, Suite 1200, San Francisco, CA 94105, USA. Tel: +1 415–597–8200. Fax: +1 415–597–8299. E-mail: Peabody{at}psg.ucsf.edu

Objectives Measuring and monitoring health system performance is important albeit controversial. Technical, logistic and financial challenges are formidable. We introduced a system of measurement, which we call Q*, to measure the quality of hospital clinical performance across a range of facilities. This paper describes how Q* was developed, implemented in hospitals in the Philippines and how it compares with typical measures.

Methods Q* consists of measures of clinical performance, patient satisfaction and volume of physician services. We evaluate Q* using experimental data from the Quality Improvement Demonstration Study (QIDS), a randomized policy experiment. We determined its responsiveness over time and to changes in structural measures such as staffing and supplies. We also examined the operational costs of implementing Q*.

Results Q* was sustainable, minimally disruptive and readily grafted into existing routines in 30 hospitals in 10 provinces semi-annually for a period of 21/2 years. We found Q* to be more responsive to immediate impacts of policy change than standard structural measures. The operational costs totalled US$2133 or US$305 per assessment per site.

Conclusion Q* appears to be an achievable assessment tool that is a comprehensive and responsive measure of system level quality at a limited cost in resource-poor settings.

Key Words: Quality of care, health systems, health facilities, health policy, developing countries, Philippines, performance measures

Accepted for publication 3 December 2008.


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?




Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.