September 11, 2000

Coordinated action to report to Canadians on the performance of our publicly funded health care system is a key component of the Health Action Plan agreed to by all First Ministers.

Currently, there is little comparable information available to Canadians on how their health care dollars are being spent and with what results. This is made even more difficult by the fact that provincial health systems have developed in different ways over time to meet the needs of their respective populations.

More comprehensive reporting would be of tremendous benefit to patients, health care providers governments – all Canadians -by:

• Showing how governments are doing in meeting their goals and commitments;
• Assisting individuals, health care providers, and governments to make more informed choices;
• Improving the sharing of best practices across the country to improve services;
•  Increasing Canadians' understanding of how health services are used and how these help to increase life expectancy, improve the quality of life and reduce the burden of illness; and
•  Helping Canadians understand how their publicly-funded health care services are being delivered.

Accordingly, under the Heath Action Plan, and building on existing efforts, governments have agreed to collaborate on the creation of a framework for regular reporting on health system performance and outcomes starting in September 2002.

This will include the development and use of comparable and appropriate indicators that will focus on:

•  Health status (e.g., life expectancy, infant mortality, people reporting health as excellent);
•  Health outcomes (e.g., improve quality of life, reduced burden of disease and illness); and
•  Quality of service (e.g., waiting time for key diagnosis and treatment services, patient satisfaction, access to 24 hour, 7 day-a-week first contact services).

Efforts to report on Canada-wide health system performance will be flexible to take into account regional differences.

Governments also commit to provide comprehensive, regular reporting to Canadians on jointly-agreed-upon priorities. This will include how well the health system is doing in providing reasonably timely access to health services and in protecting and promoting health.