Brown et al. provide a comprehensive evaluation of the public reporting of healthcare performance data, with, however, some limitation on recommendations for its effectiveness. Experience gained over the past 20 years is predominantly in the US with some in the UK. The small amount of Australian experience is reported in this paper. Accountability appears to override quality improvement as the purpose of publishing. It is easier to recount negative effects than positive ones but the overriding finding is the relatively small impression public disclosure has had on healthcare delivery. In an effort to overcome this problem, the intended audience should be clarified and the information correspondingly tailored. For consumers, information should mainly be concerned with issues of process and patient satisfaction, and for the providers, predominantly outcome data.

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