Issue 10 September 2009 This eBulletin is produced by the HARC Office at the Sax Institute. The Sax Institute seeks to improve health, health services and programs by increasing the use of research in policy making. Click on any headline you are interested in below and you will be directed to the story on our website. For readers who prefer a print based publication, please  click here to download a copy. Click here to subscribe to mailing list

The Australian healthcare reform agenda contains a vision for evidence being embedded into both the design and evaluation of changes to the health system. In this edition, we highlight the latest studies from the UK where they have produced a steady stream of high quality evaluations of the Blair government's NHS reforms. These latest studies capitalise on using routinely collected hospital data to evaluate national changes to hospital operations, a method that has been used in the US by the Dartmouth Atlas Project over the past 20 years to monitor variation in US healthcare. We are delighted that Professor Elliott Fisher from Dartmouth, whose internationally acclaimed research has been instrumental in shaping the US healthcare reform agenda, will be speaking at our forthcoming November HARC forum and I hope you can join us (details below). Other topics we cover in this edition are: palliative care for advanced cancer patients; savings by reducing hospital acquired infection rates; health literacy in Australia; and implementing evidence based care. Enjoy clicking through our round up of the latest research and big ideas to emerge over the past quarter. Mary Haines, Health Services Research Director Sax Institute

• Point of care computer reminders bring modest improvements in processes of care
• Existing health care efficiency measures reflect cost not quality
• Better care in not-for-profit compared with for-profit nursing homes

• A new policy for payment by results reduces cost not quality in English hospitals
• NHS reforms have reduced waiting times and inequality of access for elective surgery
• A way to improve quality of life for advanced cancer patients
• Infection control in Australian hospitals can reduce bed block and save money
• Implementing evidence based care in Australian Emergency Departments - appropriate use of Ottawa ankle rules

• Health Literacy among Australians - only 41% of adults have adequate or better health literacy skills
• The impact of financial incentives on quality of care - jury still out
• New South Wales Population Health Survey available now
• Australia: The Healthiest Country by 2020 - The National Preventative Health Strategy

• What is Medicare Select?
• New NHS hospital comparison website
• The case for health reform
• Improving quality and safety in hospitals - a practical guide

• The Menzies Centre for Health Policy: Policy for enhanced prevention in US and Australia: how much bang for the buck? Wednesday, 7 October 2009, 5.30pm University of Sydney
• The Menzies Centre for Health Policy Annual Oration: How Preventable is Cardiovascular Disease? Tuesday, 13 October, 12.30pm, The Australian National University
• AHHA/AIHPS 2009 Congress Shaping up in Health: How does Australia become the world’s best? 8-9 October 2009, Hotel Grand Chancellor, Hobart, Tasmania
• Multi-Level Modelling Master Class. Wednesday 21 October 2009, 9.30am - 4.30pm, University of Western Sydney, Campbelltown Campus
• 5th HARC Forum: Monitoring variation in healthcare quality - an evidence base to improve healthcare - Lessons from the US Dartmouth Atlas Project. Wednesday 4 November 2009, 5-7.30pm, Royal Prince Alfred Hospital
• Reforming Australia's health workforce Conference. 23-24 November 2009, Sofitel, Wentworth, Sydney
• HSRAANZ 6th Health Services and Policy Research Conference. 25-27 November 2009, Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre