{"id":8100,"date":"2023-03-03T08:06:15","date_gmt":"2023-03-03T08:06:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dev.israelhealthindicators.org\/about\/"},"modified":"2026-07-23T12:36:07","modified_gmt":"2026-07-23T12:36:07","slug":"about","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/dev.israelhealthindicators.org\/en\/about\/","title":{"rendered":"About"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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About the Program<\/h1>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
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Introduction<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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The quality of healthcare is a cornerstone of the healthcare system and has a direct impact on health outcomes. The literature offers various definitions of \u201cquality of care,\u201d one of the most widely cited describing it as the extent to which healthcare services increase the likelihood of desired health outcomes and are consistent with current professional knowledge (1). <\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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In 2001, the Institute of Medicine in the United States published a foundational report on the quality of healthcare, presenting a comprehensive framework for assessing the quality of healthcare systems (2). Within this framework, six core domains were defined for improving the quality of care delivered within healthcare systems: <\/p>

  • Safety of care – preventing harm to patients during care delivery.<\/li>
  • Effectiveness of care – providing evidence-based treatment to patients who need it, while avoiding ineffective or excessive care.<\/li>
  • Patient-centered care – tailoring care to the patient\u2019s needs, values, and personal preferences.<\/li>
  • Access to care – providing care at the appropriate time, while minimizing waiting times and delays that may harm patients.<\/li>
  • Efficiency of care – the prudent use of healthcare system resources.<\/li>
  • Equity of care – ensuring that care is not influenced by personal, social, or economic characteristics.<\/li><\/ul>

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    Program Initiation<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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    The National Health Insurance Law (1995) establishes a standardized package of services delivered by the four health funds to all residents of the state. The importance of quality medical care is reflected in the wording of the law, which stipulates that it is founded on the values of “justice, equality, and mutual aid,” and further that “health services included shall be provided according to medical discretion, at a reasonable quality, within a reasonable time, and at a reasonable distance from the patient’s place of residence” (3). <\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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    The Ministry of Health was assigned responsibility for overseeing the implementation of the law, and in its wake, bodies were established with the aim of “accompanying and evaluating the impact of the National Health Insurance Law on health services in Israel, their quality, efficiency, and cost.” These include the Health Council and the National Institute for Health Services and Health Policy Research in Israel. In recognition of the importance of measurement and oversight, the Quality Indicators Program for Community Medicine in Israel was established, initially as a research project led by a team of researchers from Ben-Gurion University under the direction of Prof. Avi Porat, and funded by the National Institute for Health Services and Health Policy Research. The project was carried out in collaboration with the four health funds, the Ministry of Health, the Israeli Medical Association, and its professional associations. <\/p>

    Following its success in developing a quality indicators framework for community medicine, the project was adopted by the Ministry of Health and in 2004 became a permanent national program (the National Program for Quality Indicators in Community Healthcare) under the leadership of the National Institute and funded by the Health Council. The program’s first report was published in 2004 and presented data for the years 2001\u20132003. Additional reports presented data for subsequent years (previous reports are available on this site). In May 2010, the program’s management changed hands, with oversight transferred to a team from the Hadassah-Hebrew University School of Public Health in Jerusalem, led by Prof. Orly Manor, and from 2017 by Prof. Ronit Calderon-Margalit. <\/p>

    In the OECD’s 2012 report on Israel’s healthcare system, the program received considerable praise as a leading initiative among member countries. Since then, the program has expanded both in its areas of measurement and in its capacity to identify gaps in quality of care. <\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/details>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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    Program Objectives<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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    The program’s goal is to maintain ongoing and dynamic measurement of the quality of preventive, diagnostic, curative, and rehabilitative services provided in the community, and in doing so supply policymakers and the public with information on the quality of medical care delivered by the health funds. All of this is aimed at improving and enhancing the medical services provided to the residents of Israel. <\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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    To achieve this goal, the program publishes community healthcare quality indicators annually. This ongoing monitoring tracks changes in care quality over time and identifies areas needing improvement in both information systems, data collection, and health services. Israel\u2019s healthcare quality is also assessed through comparisons with other countries that publish similar community care indicators. <\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/details>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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    Process for selecting Program Indicators<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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    The program management team, based at the Hadassah\u2013Hebrew University School of Public Health, includes clinicians, researchers, epidemiologists, and pharmacists. It conducts internal discussions on new indicators and updates to existing ones, with subject-matter experts invited to participate in discussions. <\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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    The management team’s discussions focus on the suitability of indicators for the program and include a comprehensive review of the professional literature, a review of guidelines both internationally and in Israel, an examination of whether the indicators exist in other quality indicator programs worldwide, and a discussion of their suitability for the program according to the following criteria:<\/p>

    1. Importance and relevance \u2013 Priority is given to indicators related to high societal burden, meaning diseases with high prevalence, incidence, mortality, or those associated with high costs. Priority is given to diseases for which screening, diagnosis, or treatment is relevant in community healthcare settings.<\/li>
    2. Evidence-based \u2013 The indicators reflect the quality of care for conditions where there is established evidence that medical treatment is effective and has positive health outcomes.<\/li>
    3. Quantifiability \u2013 All indicators are defined as rate-based metrics.<\/li>
    4. Feasibility \u2013 Appropriate and reliable data are available in the health maintenance organizations\u2019 information systems, or it is feasible to develop suitable fields in the electronic medical record.<\/li>
    5. Applicability \u2013 The indicators can be implemented in community healthcare practice.<\/li><\/ol>

      The indicator set includes several types:<\/p>