Swiss aim to boost hospital transparency via care data

Switzerland is making public more information about hospitals to help patients find the best treatment Keystone

The Federal Office of Public Health has released a raft of new statistics on intensive care in Swiss hospitals. It hopes this measure will boost transparency and allow patients and doctors to better choose the appropriate care required.

Every year the health office publishes data on the quality of acute care in Swiss hospitals. The latest figures, from 2013, cover 165 facilities and 49 pathologies and treatments from replacement hip or knee operations to pneumonia or heart interventions.

The intent is to give people a better idea of which hospitals might best serve their needs, and to improve medical services. The public health office says people can expect better treatment from hospitals that have more experience by way of handling a large number of cases. For that reason, the database provides a breakdown of the number of treatments and operations performed in each of the Swiss acute care hospitals.

“This helps to improve transparency and helps patients and physicians to choose the hospital suited to the treatment sought,” the public health office said in a statement on Friday.

This year the list of indicators has been expanded to include the treatment of skin diseases and transplants and the average length of stay for certain hospital treatments, such as myocardial infarction and tonsillectomy.

“Results are weighted based on risk: the actual mortality is related with the expected mortality, resulting from the age and sex of patients,” the public health office says. “These indicators allow hospitals to be compared more accurately.”