Quality criteria for health checks: Development of a European consensus agreement

- A health check is service around the offer of one or more tests.
- Quality criteria do not exist for health checks offered outside regular health care.
- The proposed criteria aim at consumer autonomy and affordable health care.
- They focus on adequate and sufficient information for consumer decision making.

ObjectiveHealth checks may empower individuals to take better care of their health, but they may incorporate risks of incorrect test results, overdiagnosis and overtreatment as well. Some health checks are strictly regulated, such as in many of the national screening programs, but the ones offered outside such programs and in the commercial domain, are not. We developed a European consensus agreement for quality criteria.MethodQuality criteria were developed with the contribution of 43 experts from 16 European countries and 8 European organizations. A working group drafted a proposal, which was revised in several rounds of internal and external review by a multidisciplinary group of experts.ResultThe quality criteria address the provision of information, communication and informed consent, predictive ability and utility of the test, and quality assurance.ConclusionThe consensus agreement on the quality of health checks aim to enhance informed decision making in clients and protects the affordability of the health care system. The criteria can be developed further into a formal standard and regulation if such authority is warranted.