Health Quality & Safety Commission | Study shows 57 percent of Australians receive appropriate care
A health care study published last week showed that 57 percent of Australians receive appropriate care. The CareTrack Australia study looked at health care encounters of a sample of 1154 individuals from areas chosen to be representative of the socioeconomic profile of Australians. A wide range of encounters were examined and measured for compliance against 522 indicators representing appropriate care for 22 common conditions.
The results showed that participants received appropriate care in 57 percent of the 35,573 eligible health care encounters. The level of compliance varied significantly depending on the health condition assessed, from 13 percent for alcohol dependence to 90 percent for coronary heart disease.
The authors concluded that although there were pockets of excellence and some aspects of care were well managed across health care providers, the consistent delivery of appropriate care needs improvement, and gaps in care should be addressed.
The full report can be accessed on the Medical Journal of Australia website below.
CareTrack: assessing the appropriateness of health care delivery in Australia