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Since 1999, Gerard Anderson, Ph.D., of Johns Hopkins University and Robin Osborn have co-directed the International Working Group on Quality Indicators, a unique collaboration that includes government officials from Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the U.K., and the U.S.; the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD); the Nuffield Trust; the Institute of Medicine; and the Canadian Council of Health Services Accreditation. Chaired by Arnold Epstein, M.D., of the Harvard School of Public Health, the project produced in 2004 the first-ever set of quality indicators—30 in all—for benchmarking and comparing health care system performance across countries.
In collaboration with the Fund, the OECD is building on this work through its International Healthcare Quality Indicators Project, also chaired by Dr. Epstein. The OECD has expanded the project to include 23 countries and is further developing the scope and depth of the indicator set. The project, which was endorsed by health ministers at the OECD May 2004 Ministerial meeting, will by early 2006 produce data on participating countries from an initial set of 17 indicators. The objective is to expand the indicator set to include 50 internationally comparable quality measures.
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