What metrics may be used to evaluate health care system performance?

Evaluating healthcare system performance requires metrics that reflect the quality of care, patient outcomes, and system efficiency. Age-adjusted death rates and infant mortality rates are critical indicators that provide insight into the overall health of a population and the effectiveness of the healthcare system.

Age-adjusted death rates allow for comparisons across different population age structures, helping to identify trends or disparities in health outcomes. Infant mortality rates, on the other hand, serve as a crucial measure of community health and can indicate the adequacy of healthcare services during pregnancy, birth, and early childhood care. Both metrics are widely recognized by health policymakers and researchers as essential for evaluating the performance of healthcare systems because they directly relate to health outcomes and the effectiveness of medical interventions.

The other metrics, while important in their respective areas, do not focus as directly on the core health outcomes associated with healthcare system performance. Employee turnover rates might indicate workforce stability, and patient feedback scores provide insight into patient satisfaction, but they do not measure health outcomes directly. Insurance claim approval times relate to operational efficiency but do not provide information about the quality of care or health status of the population being served. Thus, age-adjusted death rates and infant mortality rates stand out as the most relevant metrics for evaluating healthcare system performance.