NEW YORK - An ongoing comparative study of nations' health systems has been updated to reflect new developments in areas including the implementation of healthcare information technology.

The report, issued by U.S.-based advocacy group The Commonwealth Fund, compared the healthcare systems of the United Kingdom, Germany, Australia, New Zealand, the United States, and Canada. Most of the information in the report was drawn from surveys of the nations' patients and primary care physicians.

Research for the report, entitled, "Mirror, Mirror on the Wall: An International Update on the Comparative Performance of American Health Care," previously was conducted in 2006 and 2004. The study looked at nations' healthcare quality, access, efficiency, equity, outcomes, healthy lifestyles, coordination of care, and IT.

The United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand were found to have continued their superior performance in most measures, and are now joined by Germany, which previously ranked lower. The United States and Canada remain at the bottom of the list, with the U.S. healthcare system performing worst overall. Results from the Netherlands, included in previous versions of the study, were not shown in the update.

Physicians can better monitor chronic condition and medication use in Germany, New Zealand and the United Kingdom because of those nations' robust IT systems, the report found. The United Kingdom is currently leading the pack in IT-related healthcare measures.

Read the full version at Health Care IT News Europe