ISO 21667:2010 establishes a common health indicators conceptual framework, and is intended to foster a common vocabulary and conceptual definitions for the resultant framework. The framework defines the appropriate dimensions and sub-dimensions required to describe the health of the population and performance of a health care system, is sufficiently broad (high-level) to accommodate a variety of health care systems, and is comprehensive, encapsulating all of the factors related to health outcomes and health system performance and utilization, as well as regional and national variations.

ISO 21667:2010 does not identify or describe individual indicators or specific data elements for the health indicators conceptual framework; nor does it address needs analysis, demand analysis or the range of activities that need to be supported for health system management.

The definition of benchmarks and/or approaches used in the definition of benchmarks is outside the scope of ISO 21667:2010.