Optimising the use of certification findings to support healthcare quality measurement and improvement

Certification is one of several regulatory tools intended to support and ensure the safe provision of health and disability services, such as hospitals and rest homes, to the public. Health and disability service providers must be certified and meet all relevant service standards if they are to provide healthcare services. Not surprisingly, service providers, regulators and auditors spend a significant amount of effort and resources to prepare for, undertake, administer and report the audits. Given the substantial investment by all involved, it is essential to optimise the use of the findings to support system learning and quality improvement. However, in reality and practice, the qualitative and narrative nature of the audit findings means that they are unable to be used to optimise their return for the commensurate effort. In this viewpoint article, we propose and describe a complementary quantitative approach to using certification data to enable and support clinical governance and quality improvement in and across organisations. We reflect on our proposed approach in practice and consider its limitations and implications on practice, research and policy.