title: Can data-driven benchmarks be used to set the goals of healthy people 2010?
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Expert panels determined the public health goals of Healthy People 2000 subjectively. The present study examined whether data-driven benchmarks provide a better alternative.
  
  
  METHODS
  We developed the "pared-mean" method to define from data the best achievable health care practices. We calculated the pared-mean benchmark for screening mammography from the 1994 National Health Interview Survey, using the metropolitan statistical area as the "provider" unit. Beginning with the best-performing provider and adding providers in descending sequence, we established the minimum provider subset that included at least 10% of all women surveyed on this question. The pared-mean benchmark is then the proportion of women in this subset who received mammography.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The pared-mean benchmark for screening mammography was 71%, compared with the Healthy People 2000 goal of 60%.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  For Healthy People 2010, benchmarks derived from data reflecting the best available care provide viable alternatives to consensus-derived targets. We are currently pursuing additional refinements to the data-driven pared-mean benchmark approach.
authors.affiliation: Center for Outcomes and Effectiveness Research, USA.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Allison
authors.forename: C I
authors.initials: CI
authors.lastname: Kiefe
authors.forename: N W
authors.initials: NW
authors.lastname: Weissman
mesh_terms: D019985:Benchmarking / Q000458:organization & administration*; D003627:Data Interpretation, Statistical; D019317:Evidence-Based Medicine; D005260:Female; D005544:Forecasting; D006287:Health Planning Guidelines; D006292:Health Priorities / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006801:Humans; D008327:Mammography / Q000592:standards; D008403:Mass Screening / Q000592:standards; D008875:Middle Aged; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D014481:United States