Adverse events during hospital care are a global concern. The evidence for addressing unsafe acute care using pay-for-performance is inconclusive. This research examined the association between the introduction of a financial penalty introduced by Australian policy in July 2018 and the prevalence of 13 high-priority hospital-acquired complications in Australian public hospitals.

The authors of this paper propose a series of criteria by which judgement can be made on whether progress towards a 'wellbeing economy' is occurring, and apply these criteria using a series of examples to show contrasts between genuine wellbeing approaches and wellbeing economy 'window dressing'.

This paper argues that Australian governments should consider an effective and proportionate value-based response to COVID-19, and its longer-term health consequences, that considers patient health outcomes and costs.