How to Read this Report

What’s being measured?

AHS delivers health services in five zones, each with different populations and geography. The measures presented here track our current and projected performance in a broad range of indicators that span the continuum of care. They include primary care, continuing care, population and public health, and acute (hospital-based) care. Among others, these measures touch upon various dimensions of quality such as timeliness, effectiveness, efficiency, and satisfaction rates.

Assessment of data quality

AHS has initiated a formal process to assess the quality of the performance measures listed in this report, with priority given to the Tier 1 measures highlighted in the 2012-2015 Health Plan. The Data Quality and Operational Readiness (DQOR) review process involves multiple stakeholders in an assessment of the people, processes, and information systems responsible for reporting on a given performance measure which, depending on the measure, can take between three to six months to complete. DQOR assessments have been completed for: Hip and Knee Replacement Surgery Wait Times, ED Length of Stay for both admitted and discharged patients within the higher volume EDs, and Continuing Care Wait Lists and Times.

An informal assessment of data quality has been conducted for all performance measures included in this report. Operational areas were asked to complete a questionnaire using a subset of items from the formal DQOR review process. Where complete, the results of this informal assessment have been translated into one of the following statements:

• An internal review of the data quality indicates a very high level of confidence with no known issues.
• An internal review of the data quality indicates a high level of confidence with limited issues.
• An internal review of the data quality indicates a moderate level of confidence with some known minor issues.
• An internal review of the data quality indicates an acceptable level of confidence with known issues.
• An internal review of the data quality indicates a questionable level of confidence with known issues.

How to read this report

This report contains a high-level system (provincial) dashboard which offers a summary view of AHS performance against the targets we have established for 2012/13. This provincial dashboard shows the target for the 2012/13 year and the actual year-to-date performance for the fourth quarter ending March 31, 2013 (this is the same as the annual performance). The dashboard also compares the annual performance against the annual performance from last year. In looking at the actual performance, if the ‘stretch’ target has been missed, we would still seek to demonstrate improvement over time enabling us to confidently make the right changes to our health system.

1. Quarter Four Year-to-Date Actual (Annual) to Target Comparison: For the fourth report of the fiscal year, we compare the year-to-date results (April 2012 – March, 2013) against the annual target.
   
   A green square is used when actual performance is at, or is better than, the target. A yellow triangle represents performance within an acceptable range of the target (within 10 per cent of the target), and a red circle shows where performance is beyond an acceptable range.
   
   Indicators measured annually rather than quarterly are evaluated against the year-end target where performance within 10 per cent of the target is considered an acceptable range, resulting in a yellow triangle.
2. Prior Year Comparison: Here we compare each measure’s value to the previous year’s annual value. A green up arrow indicates we are doing better. A horizontal green arrow indicates no significant change (within 5 per cent) but that the measure’s value is slightly improving. A horizontal red arrow indicates no significant change (within 5 per cent) but that the value is moving slightly away from the prior value and a red down arrow indicates we are not doing as well.

In addition to the provincial dashboard, a zone comparison dashboard has been included to allow for an at-a-glance view of performance against the provincial targets across each zone (the five geographies providing integrated health services).

Individual zone dashboards are included as well (following the same format as the provincial dashboard), which present each zone’s performance against the provincial targets. It should be noted that some performance measures have not been allocated to the zone level due to the nature of a provincial service delivery model.

Following the dashboard views, you also have access to one-page descriptions of each indicator with additional access to detailed definitions, comments on existing performance, actions being taken by AHS to improve performance, more detailed information by zone or site (as appropriate to the specific indicator), and other useful information. Where available, these descriptions have volume graphs included. These graphs have year-to-date volumes for 2010/11, 2011/12 and 2012/13. Under the volumes there is a “per cent change”. This per cent change is the change from 2011/12 year-to-date to 2012/13 year-to-date.

Data Lag

Data availability for quarterly updates varies due to data source differences. All but six of the quarterly performance measures in this report are updated to the fourth quarter (January – March 2013) and fourth quarter year-to-date (April 2012 – March, 2013). For those indicators reporting third quarter 2012/13 data (October – December, 2012), the following table explains the reasons for the one quarter reporting lag:

Data updates

This report contains the most currently available data for all performance measures. In addition to those measures updated quarterly, several other measures are updated on a less frequent basis. These measures are detailed as follows with a timeline for their next anticipated update:

Data sources

Data included in this report come from Alberta Health Services, Alberta Health, Health Quality Council of Alberta, and Statistics Canada.