Quality improvement closing the gap, saving money in indigenous health

The use of continuous quality improvement activities raises the quality and quantity of preventive healthcare delivered to Indigenous Australians, University of Sydney research reveals. The finding published in today's BMJ Open is critical for closing the gap in health between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians says Professor Ross Bailie of the University of Sydney , who led the research. "The economic benefit of the CQI program to improve diabetes care alone in 2012 was estimated to be $15 million to the NT and $99 million value to the rest of Australia. The economic benefits of the CQI program are likely to be several times greater than this as a result of improved care across preventive and maternal health. "So not only do we see improved health outcomes but it also makes good economic sense for Governments to ensure strong policy in the area of CQI and ensure regional support structures to support its implementation - as we have seen in the NT. "Having health centres apply continuous quality improvement, which is a systematic way of using data to guide changes to how primary health care is organised, structured, or designed, has been shown to be a good way to improve healthcare," Professor Bailie says. "The Northern Territory Government has had an especially strong commitment to implementing continuous quality improvement policies and support structures.