Hospital performance assessment
WHO
Many governments throughout Europe and worldwide have initiated hospital performance assessments, motivated by objectives such as supporting professionals in quality management, improving accountability of hospital boards or informing the public. Hospital performance assessment was also one of the main issues addressed in the WHO European Ministerial Conference on Health Systems held in June 2008 and the topic of World Health Day in 2009.
WHO/Europe assists with these projects through its Performance Assessment Tool for Quality Improvement in Hospitals (PATH). This internal assessment tool aims to encourage hospitals to identify their strengths and weaknesses and offers the opportunity for international benchmarking.
PATH takes an overall, comprehensive view of hospital performance providing an excellent platform for strategic decision-making in hospital governance. It is not only about performance measurement; it encourages a continuous learning and evaluation process in hospitals through the establishment of an active network.
