Roxon right on about transparency in the health system

Of course the Federal Minister for Health is right in announcing details of the reform agenda for the hospital system:

"In a speech titled Reform - the New Era to the Australian Healthcare and Hospitals Association Congress, Ms Roxon said there was no time to waste in boosting the transparency of the health system. "Unless we make the effort to fix our system now, and equip it for the 21st century, we will see it decline in terms of health outcomes, hospital performance, unsatisfied demand and rising costs, as well as a growing gap between those who have the health services they need, and those who do not,'' she said.

"Hospitals are to be "directly compared on safety,efficiency and the cost of medical procedures", according to The Australian's report of her speech- the text is yet to appear on the Minister's website. Let's hope quality of care is also in there somewhere: as Queensland has already shown information about this aspect of health care can be collected and helpfully made publicly available for comparative purposes, as set out in Chapter 7 of the Government's annual report on hospital performance. The Federal Government and the consumers and the taxpayer/ funders of services should expect nothing less from the other states.