Define 'healthcare quality indicators.'

Healthcare quality indicators are vital tools that measure the performance of healthcare services and patient outcomes. These indicators provide a way to assess how well a healthcare system is delivering care and the extent to which it meets established standards of quality.

By utilizing various metrics—such as patient satisfaction scores, rates of hospital-acquired infections, or the effectiveness of treatments—healthcare quality indicators help identify areas where care is effective and where improvements are needed. They serve as benchmarks for healthcare providers to evaluate their practices, enabling them to enhance patient safety, reduce errors, improve the quality of care, and achieve better health outcomes for patients.

In contrast, the other options focus on different aspects of healthcare management. For instance, statistics that track the costs of healthcare delivery pertain to financial metrics rather than the quality of care; financial reports relate specifically to expenditures and budgeting rather than evaluating healthcare services; and policies regarding the ethical treatment of patients deal with ethics and legality rather than quantitatively measuring performance or outcomes. Therefore, the main focus of healthcare quality indicators is on the assessment of performance in delivering healthcare, making the first choice the most accurate definition.