Slovakia is building a Health System Performance Assessment (HSPA) framework with technical support from the OECD and funding from the European Commission. The tool is intended to systematically collect indicators and show how the health system is meeting its goals. The aim is to provide an overview that will also support public policy-making.
The framework: from inputs to outcomes and the people behind it
The Slovak framework divides the assessment into areas and smaller domains. It follows the sequence from inputs and resources through risk factors and prevention, then the actual provision of health services, with efficiency examined throughout. The result is a picture of what the system delivers to patients and society. Each domain is described from multiple angles to capture the diversity of types of care and situations.
The framework was created thanks to the collaboration of more than 50 experts from over 23 healthcare institutions, including those that manage key data. An important output is also an analysis of the data infrastructure—a valuable overview of what data we have and what is missing. Workshops and technical working groups contributed to the development, aligning practical needs with what can realistically be measured. Cross-sector cooperation has been a strong pillar of the project from the start.
Indicators, quality, and next steps
The framework currently contains approximately 110 indicators, which aligns with the OECD’s recommendation to stay around one hundred for clarity. The numbers vary across domains according to their perceived importance and data availability. In the design, a balance was sought between compactness and diversity of perspectives, for example by types of care or selected incidents. The thematic emphasis in this block is on the quality of service delivery.
Some indicators are "ready to go" with a clear methodology; others can be calculated from already existing data collections or are not yet reported for Slovakia, and some do not yet exist at all. The goal is to publish the first extensive report with a breakdown by individual domains at the turn of 2027/2028. Looking ahead, making the data available on the web is also being considered so that the figures can be updated more often than once every four years. Institutions in the sector will provide analyses and commentary on the indicators, since the necessary know-how resides with them.
