What next for the Australian Atlas of Healthcare Variation series? Focusing the system on appropriate and sustainable health care

Abstract

Mapping, identifying and reducing unwarranted healthcare variation is integral to improving the appropriateness of care – minimising wasteful or unnecessary care and redirecting care to those who could benefit most (J Eval Clin Pract 26: 687–696, 2020). The Australian Atlas of Healthcare Variation series has examined variation in healthcare use since 2015. The findings reported in the Atlas series have led to important system changes. National safety and quality standards, mandatory for all hospitals and day procedure services, now require health service organisations to monitor and investigate variation and address unwarranted variation. Clinical care standards have been developed for clinical conditions in which the Atlas series has identified considerable variation. But the overuse of low-value care and underuse of high-value care persists, as suggested by the marked variation the Atlas series continues to uncover. We must now develop an approach that systematically links reporting of data and investigation of variation with a suite of responses to address unwarranted variation. This paper focuses on efforts to reduce low value-care, so that resources can be redirected to supporting high-value care as well as reducing waste and cutting carbon emissions from health care (Med J Aust 216: 67–68, 2022).