Quality of Care and Outcomes
Quality of care contributes to patient safety and health outcomes and considers how well health care services are provided to patients. It addresses these questions:
- Do these services measure up to health care evidence?
- Are they patient-centred?
- Do they produce desired health outcomes?
- Do they contribute to patient safety?
Outcomes of care are the direct results of the care patients receive.
CIHI gathers, measures and analyzes health care data to support quality of care and health outcomes in Canada. We produce information products that help inform discussions from a systems perspective about how to improve quality of care and outcomes and enhance patient safety.
Events and education
Canadian Patient Safety Week
A national annual campaign started in 2005 to inspire extraordinary improvement in patient safety
Key reports and analyses
Media
Multimedia
Applications
- Health Indicators Interactive Tool
Health indicators are standardized measures used to compare health status and health system performance and characteristics among different jurisdictions in Canada.
CIHI provides free, aggregate-level data on health indicators, presented in one of two ways:
- Pre-formatted tables that provide a snapshot of the data
- Interactive data that can be manipulated, printed and exported for a dynamic presentation of health statistics
Health Indicators Interactive Tool >> - eReporting
Each year, CIHI and registered organizations collect and analyze data related to the health of Canadians and the Canadian health care system.
To help improve access to timely data, CIHI offers data-submitting organizations an eReporting tool so that registered organizations can submit and access their data electronically through a secure website.
Applications available through Client Services eReporting:
- National Ambulatory Care Reporting System (NACRS)
- National Rehabilitation Reporting System (NRS)
- Continuing Care Reporting System (CCRS)
- Home Care Reporting System (HCRS)
- Canadian MIS Database (CMDB)
- Hospital Standardized Mortality Ratio (HSMR)
- Canadian Hospital Reporting Project (CHRP) eTool
Log in to eReporting >>
FAQ
- Did You Know? Adverse events
Some types of adverse events are comparatively rare, but others occur more frequently. For example, adverse events related to medications and infections are more common than those related to blood transfusions or in-hospital fractures.
- What Are Health Disparities?
In general, Canadians are among the world’s most prosperous and healthy populations. However, not all Canadians are equally healthy. Systematic health disparities exist between different population groups. Health disparities are caused by a diverse set of factors. In general, these factors pertain to the conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work, age and eventually die. These are known as the determinants of heath and they include factors such as: • Income and social status; • Social support networks; • Education; • Employment and working conditions; • Social and physical environments; • Biology and genetic endowment; • Personal health practices and coping skills; • Healthy child development; • Health services; • Gender; and Culture.
- Did You Know? Socio-economic status
The effects of socio-economic status (SES) are more prominent for some types of hospital admissions than for others. For example, a CIHI study of 15 census metropolitan areas over a three-year period (between 2003–2004 and 2005–2006) found: • Hospitalization rates for mental health in the low-SES group were 2.3 times those in the high-SES group (596 per 100,000 people compared to 256 per 100,000). Hospitalization rates for substance-related disorders in the low-SES group were 3.4 times those in the high-SES group. • Urban Canadians in low-SES groups were more than twice as likely to be hospitalized for chronic conditions that could potentially be treated in the community, known as ambulatory care sensitive conditions (ACSCs), than those in high-SES groups. For example, they were 2.4 times more likely to be hospitalized for diabetes and 2.7 times more likely to be hospitalized for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). • Children from low-SES groups had hospitalization rates for asthma 56% higher than children from high-SES groups.
- What Is the HSMR?
The hospital standardized mortality ratio (HSMR) is an important measurement tool for hospitals and health regions that compares a hospital's mortality rate with the overall average rate. Used widely in the United Kingdom and the United States, the ratio provides a starting point to assess mortality rates and identify areas for performance improvement. When tracked over time, the HSMR indicates how successful hospitals or health regions have been in reducing inpatient deaths and improving care.
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