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Profiling Physician Practice: A Potential for Misuse

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2015

R. Michael Massanari
R. Michael Massanari*
Affiliation:
Henry Ford Health System, Detroit, Michigan
*
Professional Practice Review Group, Henry Ford Hospital, 2799 West Grand Blvd., Detroit, MI 48202
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Abstract

Profiling physician practice is not unfamiliar to hospital epidemiologists. Surgeon-specific postoperative wound infection rates have been used to monitor and improve the quality of surgical outcomes. However, concerns for small sample sizes, validity of methods for risk adjustment, and reliability of data collection methods along with other methodologic concerns have resulted in mixed opinions regarding physician profiling as a tool for improving quality of care. In light of pressures for healthcare reform and skepticism regarding physicians' decision making, it is unlikely that methodologic concerns will dissuade regulators and managers from expanding scrutiny of physician practice.

Type
Beyond Infection Control: The New Hospital Epidemiology
Information
Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology , Volume 15 , Issue 6 , June 1994 , pp. 394 - 396
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America 1994

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