Quality of health care surveillance systems: review and implementation in the Swiss setting

as “that kind of care which is expected to maximise an inclusive measure of patient welfare, after one has taken account of the balance of expected gains and losses that attend the process of care in all its parts ” [4]. One of the most widely cited recent def-Quality of health care has been a subject of at-tention for many years in the USA and in Europe. Since the introduction of the new federal law on insurance in 1996 it has evolved to a progressively more important issue within the Swiss health care system. In this review, some theoretical concepts of quality of health care, variations, and surveil-lance systems are explored. Examples of quality of health care surveillance systems that have been developed successfully in the USA, in Canada, in Australia, and in Europe are discussed. They all demonstrate the interest in creating a large range of quality indicators in the surveillance system and in evaluating hospital performance using a bench-mark approach. Currently, the measurement of quality with appropriate indicators is a subject of intense debate between the Swiss Hospitals Asso-ciation (H+) and the Swiss Health Insurance Con-sortium (Santésuisse). Examples of existing sur-veillance systems in Switzerland are the Outcome Verein in Zurich and the quality of care program of the Canton of Valais. The FoQual association has also contributed to the debate by reviewing six indicators, which could be used nationally for a healthcare surveillance system. In this debate it is important to stress that ideal quality indicators intended for use as measures of quality in Swiss hospitals need to be both appropriate and valid. Only indicators that fulfil these conditions should be integrated in a Swiss health care surveillance system. Priority needs to be given to quality indi-cators and methods with the highest level of evidence and with a solid scientific basis