The EC's need for a common currency in health care quality assurance

Argues that the economic integration of the EC's 12 member nations into a single community and the elimination of barriers to free trade will not result in a single health-care system. However, the closer relationships among the member nations and the members' individual desires for competitive advantage in the new marketplace will, inevitably, lead to an interest in comparing health-care systems along cost and quality dimensions. Without a common currency for quality assurance, such comparisons will be time consuming, costly and of questionable validity. Consensus must be achieved on the following: the essential elements in a database for health care quality assurance; common classification systems for key elements in the QA database; standardized conventions for coding practices to ensure data validity and reliability. Suggests an assessment of current practices in health data collection in the member nations; a pilot project to assess the feasibility of developing a common currency for quality assurance, and an EC-wide symposium to discuss data comparability issues as next steps.