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Monitoring the Acute Care Sector: Assessing Key Measures and Trends
Monitoring the Acute Care Sector: Assessing Key Measures and Trends by Lisa M. Lix, Supplement Editor
Preface his supplement to HealthCare Management FORUM is a composite of recent work by researchers at the Manitoba Centre for Health Policy (MCHP) that examines the use and delivery of hospital care in the province. The theme of the supplement, Key Measures and Trends, reflects the growing interest of health services managers and researchers in monitoring healthcare use for quality improvement processes and public accountability.
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Lisa M. Lix
MCHP researchers are continually developing, adapting, and validating health indicators using the Population Health Research Data Repository, the populationbased data resource that is the backbone of the Centre. As each additional year of data is added to the Repository, it becomes an increasingly valuable tool for monitoring long-term changes in the health system. The routinely collected administrative data in the Repository captures all contacts with the health system for all residents of Manitoba. Use can be attributed to either the healthcare provider or the client’s place of residence. As a result, comparisons between facilities or across regions are possible. Relationships between different sectors of the health system can be examined to determine, for example, whether changes in hospital use have an influence on home care use. Finally, the relationships between population health status and health service use can be examined. These types of analyses enable managers and researchers to address such issues as appropriateness, efficiency, and accessibility of the health system. I would like to take this opportunity to thank all those who have contributed to the supplement. The Canadian College of Health Service Executives allowed the Centre the opportunity to prepare and distribute this supplement. Michelle Garneau, Publisher of FORUM, arranged all of the details and ensured a smooth process. Thoughtful critiques of the draft manuscripts that helped to improve their overall readability and take-home message were provided by the external reviewers: Dr. Douglas Angus, Bonnie Brossart, Dr. John Horne, Dr. Douglas Kinley, Marian Shanahan, and Dr. Ronald Wall. Carole Ouelette and Jo-Anne Baribeau of MCHP devoted many hours to the formatting and editing of the manuscripts. Drs. Brian Postl and Peter Glynn were given the challenge of making sense of the research and synthesizing its key messages. Finally, the authors of these papers were committed to meeting strict deadlines, critiquing the work of their colleagues and most importantly, to ensuring the relevance of the research to readers of Healthcare Management FORUM. I have enjoyed working with everyone who has helped to bring this supplement to completion. 4
Preface his supplement to HealthCare Management FORUM is a composite of recent work by researchers at the Manitoba Centre for Health Policy (MCHP) that examines the use and delivery of hospital care in the province. The theme of the supplement, Key Measures and Trends, reflects the growing interest of health services managers and researchers in monitoring healthcare use for quality improvement processes and public accountability.
T
Lisa M. Lix
MCHP researchers are continually developing, adapting, and validating health indicators using the Population Health Research Data Repository, the populationbased data resource that is the backbone of the Centre. As each additional year of data is added to the Repository, it becomes an increasingly valuable tool for monitoring long-term changes in the health system. The routinely collected administrative data in the Repository captures all contacts with the health system for all residents of Manitoba. Use can be attributed to either the healthcare provider or the client’s place of residence. As a result, comparisons between facilities or across regions are possible. Relationships between different sectors of the health system can be examined to determine, for example, whether changes in hospital use have an influence on home care use. Finally, the relationships between population health status and health service use can be examined. These types of analyses enable managers and researchers to address such issues as appropriateness, efficiency, and accessibility of the health system. I would like to take this opportunity to thank all those who have contributed to the supplement. The Canadian College of Health Service Executives allowed the Centre the opportunity to prepare and distribute this supplement. Michelle Garneau, Publisher of FORUM, arranged all of the details and ensured a smooth process. Thoughtful critiques of the draft manuscripts that helped to improve their overall readability and take-home message were provided by the external reviewers: Dr. Douglas Angus, Bonnie Brossart, Dr. John Horne, Dr. Douglas Kinley, Marian Shanahan, and Dr. Ronald Wall. Carole Ouelette and Jo-Anne Baribeau of MCHP devoted many hours to the formatting and editing of the manuscripts. Drs. Brian Postl and Peter Glynn were given the challenge of making sense of the research and synthesizing its key messages. Finally, the authors of these papers were committed to meeting strict deadlines, critiquing the work of their colleagues and most importantly, to ensuring the relevance of the research to readers of Healthcare Management FORUM. I have enjoyed working with everyone who has helped to bring this supplement to completion. 4