Journal article

The impact of Australian healthcare reforms on emergency department time-based process outcomes: An interrupted time series study

Khic-Houy Prang, Rachel Canaway, Marie Bismark, David Dunt, Margaret Kelaher

PLOS ONE | PUBLIC LIBRARY SCIENCE | Published : 2018

Abstract

BACKGROUND: In 2011, the Australian government introduced national healthcare reforms aimed at increasing the timeliness and quality of hospital care. The healthcare reforms included, but were not limited to, emergency department (ED) time-based targets, financial incentives, and public performance reporting of hospital data. We sought to evaluate the impact of the national healthcare reforms on ED time-based process outcomes. METHODS: A quasi-experimental study of ED presentations from 2006 to 2016 in the state of Victoria, Australia. Uncontrolled, interrupted time-series analyses were used to evaluate, by hospital peer groups, the effect of national healthcare reforms on: patient wait time..

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Grants

Funding Acknowledgements

This research was funded by Medibank Better Health Foundation. The funder had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.