Maclean’s Rankings of Health Care Indices in Canadian Communities 2

摘要

A critical perspective is presented in regard to the 2000 regional rankings of Canadian health care indices by magazine, June 5, 2000. This perspective is related in format to previous analyses of the rankings of Canadian universities. Several pitfalls in the health care ranking procedures are summarized. The data and general criteria appear conceptually reasonable, but their inconsistencies and limited range, together with problems in interpretation of rank data, do not allow them to be logically or empirically useful in the matter of health care evaluation, that is, in the manner portrayed for readers of . Using a particular set of parameters defined as health “indicators,” the rank data show gratuitously that communities better endowed with certain health services, such as those with medical schools, tend to provide higher levels of care.