BACKGROUND
The Austrian Public Health Institute (GÖG) develops and manages currently 7 quality outcome registries. Quality outcome registries aim to provide a comparative description of care received and of treatment
results. They are also a useful tool to identify potential areas for future activities related to quality improvement and patient safety. The maintenance of the registries is required by law. MATERIALS AND METHODS
Data are collected either via a web-application or decentrally in the hospitals (periodical transmission). Data of almost all registries undergo routine
plausibility checks, comparing them with DRG (Diagnosis-related groups) -based hospital data and mortality data provided by Statistic Austria. Descriptive-
and benchmark analyses are carried out regularly by the Austrian Public Health Institute. Figure 1 shows the process of quality outcome measurements.
Table 1 gives an overview about all 7 quality outcome registries. RESULTS All participating hospitals compare their own results to the national average and to other hospitals on a pseudonymised basis. As an outcome
of this process hospitals define their own measures to improve quality of treatment and care (e. g. comprehensive training concerning surgical techniques, optimization of structures in hospitals). A
positive aspect concerning patient safety is, that better quality leads e. g. to fewer complications and lower mortality rates. Figure 2 shows
exemplary a positive evaluation result: the percentage of Lysis rate concerning selected patients increased over the past years. Results are not open to the public, but shared only with participating hospitals and clients (e. g. Ministry of health). CONCLUSIONS
Registries can serve as a comprehensive and high quality nationwide database, describing the treatment and care of patients in hospitals. With a standardised quality improvement process and a high participation rate, quality outcome registries contribute significantly to
nation-wide quality assurance of medical therapy and especially to the improvement of patient safety.