One peer review organization's experience in developing hospital peer groups.
The Health Care Quality Improvement Initiative is moving Medicare's quality improvement activities from review and action on individual cases to the analysis of patterns of care. A primary source for pattern analysis is the mortality data presented in the Medicare Hospital Information release. One of the requirements set forth by the Health Care Financing Administration is that peer review organizations classify hospitals into peer groups in order to compare mortality rates within and among groups. It is hoped that this type of analysis will lead to a better understanding of the relationship between process and outcome for a variety of medical conditions. This report describes the experience of one peer review organization in establishing hospital peer groups.
Kentucky Clinic, University of Kentucky, Lexington 40536.
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Sumner
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Thompson
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Suarez
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Davis
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Bell
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Shanedling
D014487:Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, U.S.; D003627:Data Interpretation, Statistical; D017052:Hospital Mortality; D006761:Hospitals / Q000145:classification* / Q000592:standards / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D006278:Medicare / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008910:Minnesota; D018024:Peer Review, Health Care / Q000379:methods*; D011366:Professional Review Organizations; D011787:Quality of Health Care / Q000145:classification / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology