Authored by the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care with medical journalist Nicole MacKee
Spotlight on healthcare variation
In the first of this series of articles on healthcare variation from the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care, we look at how the program promotes equitable access to best practice care.
Adjunct Professor Debora Picone AO, CEO of the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care
Australia’s focus on healthcare variation has helped improve the appropriateness of care in
development, including brain and lung maturation. Commission Chair Professor Villis Marshall AC
our healthcare system, reducing the use of low-
says that it is more important than ever to have a
value therapies and improving access to
strategic approach to healthcare variation.
evidence-based care. But, says Adjunct Professor Debora Picone AO,
‘Although the [COVID-19] pandemic has dominated the health news and placed extra demands on the
CEO of the Australian Commission on Safety and
system, the longstanding challenges we face in
Quality in Health Care, much work remains.
health have not gone away.’
Commenting after the launch of The Fourth Australian Atlas of Healthcare Variation, Professor Picone says the series continues to provide compelling findings that ‘we must act on’. This Atlas reveals that, across Australia, 42.8%– 56.1% of all caesarean sections performed before 39 weeks did not have a medical or obstetric indication for early birth. This is despite strong evidence that waiting until at least 39 weeks’ gestation gives better short- and long-term outcomes for the baby, unless there are medical or obstetric reasons for earlier birth. The research shows that the last few weeks of pregnancy are important for the baby’s
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The Health Advocate • MAY 2021
What is variation? The Commission describes variation as a ‘difference in healthcare processes or outcomes, compared to peers or to a gold standard such as an evidencebased guideline recommendation’. Professor Anne Duggan, the Commission’s Chief Medical Officer, says that healthcare variation can be the ‘hallmark of a sophisticated healthcare system’, reflecting different patient needs or preferences. But variation can also be a sign that suboptimal care is being provided or that access to health care is inequitable.
