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On measuring the quality of hospitals: A simple method of constructing a composite quality index

Choon Cheng (Department of Health and Human Services, Melbourne, Australia)
Anthony Scott (University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia)
Vijaya Sundararajan (University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia)
Jongsay Yong (Faculty of Business and Economics, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia)

Journal of Health Organization and Management

ISSN: 1477-7266

Article publication date: 3 October 2018

Issue publication date: 22 November 2018

303

Abstract

Purpose

Researchers, policymakers and hospital managers often encounter numerous quality measures when assessing hospital quality. The purpose of this paper is to address the challenge of summarising, interpreting and comparing multiple quality measures across different quality dimensions by proposing a simple method of constructing a composite quality index. The method is applied to hospital administrative data to demonstrate its use in analysing hospital performance.

Design/methodology/approach

Logistic and fixed effects regression analyses are applied to secondary admitted patient data from all hospitals in the state of Victoria, Australia for the period 2000/2001–2011/2012.

Findings

The derived composite quality index was used to rank hospital performance and to assess changes in state-wide average hospital quality over time. Further regression analyses found private hospitals, day hospitals and non-acute hospitals were associated with higher composite quality, while small hospitals were associated with lower quality.

Practical implications

The method will enable policymakers and hospital managers to better monitor the performance of hospitals. It allows quality to be related to other attributes of hospitals such as size and volume, and enables policymakers and managers to focus on hospitals with relevant characteristics such that quantity and quality changes can be better understood, monitored and acted upon.

Originality/value

A simple method of constructing a composite quality is an indispensable practical tool in tracking the quality of hospitals when numerous measures are used to capture different aspects of quality. The derived composite quality can be used to summarise hospital performance and to identify factors associated with quality via regression analyses.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

This research was funded by an NHMRC Partnership Grant (Grant ID: 567217) and in collaboration with the Victorian Department of Health and Human Services (formerly the Victorian Department of Health). The authors are grateful to Anna Burgess, Jon Evans, Peter McNair, Peter Carver and Ilias Mastoris for helpful comments and discussions. The authors would like to thank Ying Chen for helpful assistance with data access. This research has received ethics approval from the Humanities and Applied Sciences Human Ethics Sub-Committee of the University of Melbourne. The views expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Victorian Department of Health and Human Services.

Citation

Cheng, C., Scott, A., Sundararajan, V. and Yong, J. (2018), "On measuring the quality of hospitals: A simple method of constructing a composite quality index", Journal of Health Organization and Management, Vol. 32 No. 7, pp. 842-859. https://doi.org/10.1108/JHOM-03-2018-0088

Publisher

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Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2018, Emerald Publishing Limited

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