Keywords: quality assurance, quality management, quality improvement, certificate, primary care, general practice, audit
Introduction:
Beside inpatient settings, quality assurance and improvement remain underrepresented in primary care. However, primary care is the health care systems’ entrance and provides accessible, coordinated, continuous and comprehensive care for a broad spectrum of health care needs. Facing demands regarding efficiency, adaptability, lack of staff and complex patient needs, robust quality assurance and improvement mechanisms are critical.
Lately major changes in the attitude about how quality of primary care practices should be regulated took place. This led to a change of the mindset and quality culture within the professionals.
In Austria, the process of quality assurance includes a self-evaluation by every medical practice, which is conducted by the Austrian Association of Quality assurance and quality management (ÖQMED). Following the self-evaluation and rectification of any deficiencies, random on-site visits are made to 10% of the practices. Due to changes in the latest legal amendment in 2024, the independent Federal Institute for Quality in Healthcare (BIQG) trains experienced medical doctors as peers to conduct these on-site inspections, aiming at changing the concept of quality “control” into a concept of quality improvement.
In the Netherlands the system for practice accreditation was introduced by the Dutch College for General Practitioners in 2005. First, the focus was to introduce principles of quality improvement to the participants. Through the years the system has been developed to a mature certification schedule. The standards are set by an independent committee of stakeholders in which general practitioners, patients, insurers and the government are represented. The process includes two audits on site in the first year and subsequently an audit every three years.
Participation is on a voluntary basis. However, approximately 70% of Dutch practitioners, associated with a practice, work in a practice that earned the certificate “NHG Praktijkac-creditering”.
Aim(s):
The present workshop aims at comparing the concept, measures and indicators used across Austria and the Netherlands to ensure the quality of primary care practices. Further, the workshop will be used as a platform to exchange experiences of positive and negative outcomes on executed mechanisms as well as the role of supporting mechanisms.
Programme:
We will introduce the quality assurance systems of primary care practices in Austria and the Netherlands. Furthermore, small group discussions will be initiated to provide a framework for knowledge transfer on promising quality assurance as well as improvement mechanisms in primary care. Following, the participants will be invited to present and discuss their main findings in plenum.
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EQuiP is open to both Individual and Organizational Memberships. EQuiP offers a platform to improve the knowledge base and to improve closer collaboration between GPs / Family Doctors, researchers, educators, policy makers and organisations involved in quality and safety in family medicine and primary care.
