Public reporting of clinician-level data

There is much debate about public disclosure of individual doctors’ performance to increase hospital quality and safety, but research is lacking

In 2016, media coverage of a cluster of preventable deaths of babies born at a Victorian health service1 shone a spotlight in Australia on the role of public reporting of hospital performance data in assuring quality and safety. The subsequent Victorian government review2 suggested that the Victorian health system must develop a culture of candour with improved transparency at every level of the hospital system “through greater public reporting of outcomes data and support for a just culture in hospitals”.2 Other failures in hospital quality have similarly triggered inquiries and health system reform in Australia.3,4 For example, Queensland’s Bundaberg Hospital scandal in 2005 triggered changes to public reporting to further encourage cultures in hospitals to move away from the “name–shame–blame” approach.5