Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t8hqh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-28T00:32:55.945Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

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
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

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

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1. Wennberg, JE, Freeman, JL, Culp, WJ. Are hospital services rationed in New Haven or over-utilized in Boston? Lancet 1987;1:1185–1189.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
2. Wennberg, JE, Freeman, JL, Shelton, RM, Bubolz, TA. Hospital use and mortality among medicare beneficiaries in Boston and New Haven. N Engl J Med 1989;321:1168–1173.Google Scholar
3. Chassin, MR, Kosecoff, J, Solomon, DH, et al. Does inappropriate use explain geographic variations in the use of health care services? A study of three procedures. JAMA 1987;258:2543–2547.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
4. Hillman, AL, Pauly, MV, Kerstein, JJ. How do financial incentives affect physicians' clinical decisions and the financial performance of health maintenance organizations? N Engl J Med 1989;321:86–92.Google Scholar