Vulnerability to data manipulation is only one of many problems compromising the use of elective surgery waiting times to assess health system performance
The recent controversy in Victoria over the manipulation of waiting lists in a number of public hospitals has focused attention again on the problems associated with a performance management system that is not underpinned by the collection and reporting of sound data.
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- Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, Monash University, Melbourne, VIC.
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