Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to review the literature on quality model development, validation and limitations.
Design/methodology/approach: The systematic literature review used online journal indexes between January 1995 and April 2010. International studies focusing on multiple functional domains and those in which development methods were selected. Two reviewers assessed all studies and 18 were shortlisted.
Findings: Literature reviews, peer reviews, questionnaires and expert panels are the most frequently used model development methods. Expert judges were widely used to validate the models. The most important limitation was that key indicators were missing.
Originality/value: Existing healthcare quality models are not comprehensive and there is no consensus on targets, clinical areas or diseases.
Keywords: Clinical indicators; Healthcare quality; Measurement; Quality models.