Health Insurance Fund publishes quality results: Overview of the Quality of Healthcare in the Estonian HealthCare System.

The Health Insurance Fund has, for the first time, consolidated the results of three different quality indicators into a single report. The results include feedback to the Hospital Network Development Plan on the availability of treatment, the treatment process, and the effectiveness of treatment, the indicators developed in cooperation with the World Bank to measure the integration of treatment activities and the results of 13 clinical indicators.

All the published indicators, or metrics kits, are a tool for healthcare establishments and professionals in the field to identify bottlenecks in the quality of treatment and to analyze the needs and opportunities for its improvement. The disclosure of results also gives health care establishments the opportunity to compare their results with those of other health care establishments.

"It is important to bear in mind that, based on the indicators presented in this report alone, estimates cannot be given to one or another hospital, but we receive a transparent overview of the Estonian healthcare system in its entirety. On the other hand, the purpose of publishing the report is to enable our partner's self-analysis in order to improve their quality," said Tanel Ross, the Chairman of the Board of the Health Insurance Fund.

From 2012, the feedback report of the Hospital Network Development Plan is published, which aggregates the availability of treatment and the indicators characterizing the treatment process, and treatment activities. The indicators have been developed by a team of Estonian experts based on the Performance Assessment Tool for Quality Improvement in Hospitals developed by the World Health Organization.

In 2015, the Health Insurance Fund and the World Bank co-operated in the preparation of a report analyzing the integration of the Estonian health care system, or how well family physician’s care medical specialist care are interlinked. The report team has prepared six indicators, which are measured annually and published on the Health Insurance Fund's website.

Since 2013, the Advisory Committee on Treatment Quality Indicators, established in cooperation with the Health Insurance Fund and the University of Tartu, has approved 42 clinical treatment quality indicators on the proposals by professional associations. This year, the clinical treatment quality indicators will be published for the second time.

This year, for the first time, all three sets of indicators will be published simultaneously, and in the future, three quality reports will form a single whole. Next, seven family physician's quality system indicators and a surgical indicator will be published in September, which will provide an overview of postoperative reappearance in the hospital.

All indicators are also visible on the EHIF's interactive statistics module. A modern solution allows you to easily and conveniently analyze and compare the results of hospital activities over a number of years using specific indicators. The indicator module can be found here.

Additional information

Liis Hinsberg
Head of Health Promotion and Communication Service
6208459