Star rating for health care facilities to begin next year
SYSTEM TO BE BASED ON THE DUBAI HEALTH FACILITIES PERFORMANCE FRAMEWORK
By next year, you can choose which hospital to go to based on their over-all performance, much like choosing a four-star or five-star hotel.
All health care facilities in Dubai, whether private or public, will be rated beginning next year.
Dubai Health Authority (DHA) is implementing the rating system based on the Dubai Health Facilities Performance Framework (DHFPF).
The framework, known as Qeyas, has five pillars including patient safety, clinical quality, patient happiness, financial and operational indicators.
The DHA’s Health Regulation Sector held a workshop yesterday with the private health care sector to discuss the design and implementation of the framework. This is one of the several workshops and feedback cycles conducted with an aim to design a framework with buy-in from hospitals and other health care facilities.
Dr Marwan Al Mulla, CEO of the Health Regulation Sector, said the initiative will improve the quality of health care in Dubai.
“Benchmarking and measuring the quality of care is fundamental to help build a robust health system where patientcentric care and patient safety is the cornerstone. We are working closely with the private sector to design a system with uses health data intelligently to help enhance health service delivery,” Dr Al Mulla said.
Access to information
With the new system, consumers will have access to information that will empower them to make better choices about health care providers. It will also provide medical tourists with trustworthy, independently validated information about Dubai’s health care quality.
The system will also allow for the development of a long-term reimbursement strategy, based on evidence of the quality of care provided.
Dr Mohammad Al Redha, Director of Project Management Office, Informatics and Smart Health Department at the DHA said: “The methodology will be caredata-driven and grounded in sound principles of data consistency, relevance, accuracy and integrity in order to drive crucial decision-making and strengthen the health sector in Dubai.”
Data collection
The DHFPF will include data from e-claims, Sheryan (DHA’s health regulation system), Salama (electronic patient file system for all DHA health facilities) and a range of private health care providers.